A Christmas To Remember
by Da'khari
Summary: The Jones family move to a new house, in a new town, and became part of the local church, but for Mercy that wasn't enough, a shopping trip that first Christmas changed their lives and over the years many other people's. includes: Finn, Quinn, Artie, Blaine, Brittany, Elliott, Kurt, Rachel, Puck, Santana, Brodie, Tina, Mike and many others
1. This Christmas

**A Christmas To Remember **

**This Christmas **

**10 Years Old **

Mercy Jones the oldest child of Mr James and Mrs Jennifer Jones and her younger brother James Jones Junior, otherwise called JJ moved to Hollywood just three months ago, Mr Jones, an architect had just brought an old 10 bed, two story guest house in the rather lucrative area of Hollywood. Mercy wasn't really counting, she actually enjoyed the life sometimes, but it was around the eighth time they'd moved in her short life, she'd heard her Mom talking about being worried about her schooling on the ride up, and as they'd driven up the long drive into the property she smiled at the palm tree lined, tarmacked road hoping this might be for a while longer than the rest of the houses they'd lived in.

She smiled sitting on the porch of this magnificent house, it needed new windows, a total refurbishment inside and the grounds needed lots of work doing to it, she'd heard her Dad talk worriedly about structural damage, she didn't actually know what that meant, but she did all she could by just worrying with him, sitting next to him mimicking his frown until he smiled. Three months after arriving they weren't sure how long this paradise was going to last for, if she knew her father, he was going to be here long enough to fix it, sell it, and move on to the next project.

She loved taking long walks around the grounds she could walk for hours and see no one, and she liked that, but there was nothing as breath taking as walking away from the house and seeing the gates open like she was someone really important about to leave, and when she turned around and saw the front door in her imagination, she held her breath, it was a broken wooden thing just now, but she imagined it being a very large brass handled doors that would stand out against the double fronted state of the art windows she'd seen her Dad draw. The dome like structure that seemed to hold the two identical sides of the house together, in her mind would be made of pure glass, instead of the rubble it was currently threatening to become and the unsafe staircase that it housed would be made of pure brass matching the door handles. She loved walking in there and shouting "Hello" just to hear it come back at her several times followed by her giggle and her Father calling for her to stop the noise

The space inside was more than fitting for a guest house, a massive space for dining, she'd never seen anything that big in her life, it looked like it could feed around 40 people in one sitting and the kitchen, although rusty and in need of ripping out and replacing had two of everything in it. The sitting room had several comfy chairs of all sizes and shapes, it looked confusing, especially with all the different colours going on in there, but it could easily hold the people dining and maybe another ten.

Outside there was, as expected a dirty pool, some broken garden furniture and a couple of sheds rammed with rubbish, that was one of the first things they did when they got there, emptied the sheds. Three months in and the pool was clean, the garden almost free from rubbish and it was time to start in on the main house, they were due to start ripping out the dining room and kitchen.

There were two bedrooms downstairs both en-suite and a further 8 upstairs with only 3 bathrooms upstairs, she knew that was going to change straight away, her Mom had a thing about shared bathrooms, another plus to the project was that all the upstairs bedrooms had passable balcony's, but the dreadful heavy yellow curtains in every room had to go. The cream de la cream for Mercy was the den below the house, as soon as she saw it she claimed it, JJ didn't even understand what all the fuss was about at the time he was only 5 years old.

But for now they were living in the extravagant garden house at the back of the house, they had everything in the four bedroom apartment, her Dad had it done out before they even got there, she'd got just two weeks at school left before the holidays and she was looking forward to their first Christmas there

Church had always been a big part of her family life, the first week she attended she'd met Finn and his Mom; Carol. She'd heard talk that his parents had been through a divorce, she didn't know what that was, but it was something she wrote in her notes at the back of her book to ask her parents. When they told her, she cried for the boy, she couldn't imagine anyone living without their Mom and Dad, the next week she made a point of talking to him, he wasn't very talkative at first and by the end of the Sunday school lesson he leaned across and whispered to her "I shouldn't be here, I'm finding it really hard to see God in my life right now, he's not being fair" after that she badgered him to talk to her, and one day he smiled at her and they were suddenly friends, now they were best friends actually

So now it was Christmas in three days time and as usual the family have gone out shopping to buy last minutes stuff, that's what her Dad always called it, but she was old enough to know that they really didn't have a clue what their children wanted and this was their opportunity to watch them get excited about stuff that one or the other of them would reserve until late afternoon the following day to pick up. JJ was doing his usual full scale performance because he'd seen something their parents were saying no to again, he was screaming like a girl, Mercy actually walked off and left them to it she'd had enough for a second.

She caught her Mom's eyes knowingly as her Dad and brother came around the corner with two remote control cars, they both rolled their eyes and took a deep breath at the child getting his own way again "He got it then?" Mercy asked her Dad

"I couldn't take the noise but I don't feel guilty" he held the other car up "I saw a little boy outside when we were coming in, I brought him one too"

"I'm sure we'll get you something extra too" her Mom added

"I don't need anything, it's fine" she smiled

"Are you sure?" her Dad asked

"Positive, come on" she walked towards the exit door

They left the shop, everyone looking for the little boy her Dad talked about, he eventually found him stood across the road, the family stood watching James handing the toy to the little boy, his face lit up so genuinely happy the scene almost made Mercy burst into tears at how grateful he was, they stood watching him run off down the street without saying anything he was so happy, once he was out of sight James crossed back over and they carried on with their shopping

"That was really nice" she told her Dad grabbing hold of his hand "It felt nice to watch, I'm proud of you" the 10 year old told her Father

"Thank you but I didn't do it for praise" he replied looking down at her, she'd learned something and he was wondering if she was going to share it

"I know, I just want to... what's that word you learnt me on Monday?" she turned to her Mom asking

"Acknowledge" Jennifer smiled at her daughter

"Acknowledge it" she turned to her laughing Dad telling him

"Thank you for acknowledging sweetheart" he squeezed her hand smiling with pride

"I know what I want to do when I grow up" she looked up at him "I want to help other homeless people for the holidays" she announced "Can we?"

"You work out how and we'll support you" her Mom told her

"Fine" she didn't talk much for the rest of the day she was busy getting her idea together, Christmas was only two days away

"Finn" she called that evening, as she walked into church for the carol service, if there was anyone that was going to help her it was going to be him he had good ideas "I need to come up with some way to help the homeless before tomorrow"

"That's too easy" he laughed "Let's collect when we go out singing in the mall tomorrow" he told her

"But singing is going to raise money for the church, I want to help the homeless people"

"Ask them to give the money to the homeless people, or... I could sing a solo and all the money from that would go to the homeless"

"Are you for real?" Mercy laughed, she knew he loved to sing but he did it badly, very badly and it seemed like no one except her would ever tell him how bad he was, so because of that he chose not to believe her

"Jean will give me a solo if I ask"

"That's the scary bit, she will" Mercy laughed

"Do you want this money or not?"

"I want the money" she stopped laughing to tell him

"So that's done then, I'll make hundreds" he rubbed his hands together excited

**23rd December **

The shopping was done, practice had happened, it was the dreaded time, Mercy hadn't stopped moaning about it to her parents since Jean had agreed for Finn to do the solo, he was going down and there was nothing she could say to change his mind about it. They were late getting to the mall because she was trying to put him off but the more she went on about it the more he thought he'd got it in the bag, she finally admitted defeat and following him in to the waiting choir "We need to help him out" she walked around telling the rest of them

"I don't know what Mary was thinking" one of the older women stood shaking her head

Finn sung his rendition of **'This Christmas' by Chris Brown **looking at everyone behind him as they attempted to jazz it up a lot and drowned him out with their backing vocals "10 dollars" he looked in the pan disappointed when they'd finished, Mercy didn't like to tell him she thought at least 7 of that was to shut him up

"Well clearly that's not going to work, we have to find another way" Mercy told him as he waved the money around

"Come on you two lets get you fed" James called the two children he was in charge of, they made their way to Pizza Palace to eat all they could, while thinking of ways to help

"Stop it" Mercy slapped Finn's hand away as he attempted to take her last slice of pizza "You had yours" she cut her eye at him smiling

"I'm always hungrier than you" his hand went back to her plate to take the slice he knew was his

"That's it" she gasped

"That's what?" he asked throwing more than half the slice in his mouth

"I could share my food with the homeless, well not all of it, but our Christmas meal we could share it" she looked at her Dad waiting for the say so on that "Tomorrow afternoon we could go to that shelter down town and feed the homeless people"

"You share food?" Finn laughed

"I can share" she grinned at him

"Is that what you want to do?" James asked his excited child

"That would be the best present, for everyone"

"We'll stop by, get a contact number and you can talk to your Mom about it before you do anything" his eyes telling her that was an order

"Yes Sir" she laughed grabbed Finn's hand to leave the diner, happy they'd figured it out

Finn was sleeping at hers tonight, his Mom had to work, it was a regular thing since his Dad had left and the Jones' had moved into the area, he loved it, he'd get the feel of how family life used to be for him and his parents.

**Finn's Story **

His Dad was never as full on as Mercy's Dad but he was there, when he bothered to come home, looking back at it he could see all the signs that something was wrong, his Dad would come home when he'd gone to bed, then his Mom would shout about him missing their son growing up, so his Dad would kick back with guilt tripping her about having food on the table and making sure they had a nice house to live in, it was a merry go round. He always remembered the time when, yet again, they were arguing about him, he heard his Dad actually say he hadn't signed up for this, and he knew he meant him, after that the only thing he could think to do was try harder to get him to like him, he made sure he didn't make noise when he was in the house actually played quietly in his room, when that didn't work he completely stayed out of the way.

Then the day just came out the blue when his Dad grabbed his arm shook and him for about a minute, he was in panic for a second until he realised his Dad was crying, he stood stunned into silence at the sight eventually seeing his Dad's lips moving when it came to his ears the man was stood there telling him "This is all his Mom's fault why I have to leave" over and over again, his dad walked out after that and Finn stood hating his Mother for a long while after that.

He turned 6 years old a few weeks after the break up, he remembered his Dad didn't stay around for the party, it was kind of normal now that when he'd come to visit them there'd be shouting all the time. He remembered vividly the last time his Dad came to visit, there was shouting and a lot of crying but this time it was his Mom that opened the door for him to leave telling him he shouldn't come back, Finn held onto his Fathers legs and begged the man to take him with him, he remembered his Dad's face so cold when he turned, looked into his eyes and told him he couldn't take him with him, he hated his Mom more than he'd ever thought possible

He took to locking himself in his bedroom, jamming the chair under the door so she couldn't get in, shouting for her to leave him alone every time she tried to communicate with him. He was horrid to her until one day he was on his way home from school, he'd decided to go to his friends house, so they were walking through the small town with his friend's Mom when across the way in a café he saw his own Father laughing and joking with some woman kissing his neck, at that second he developed a hatred for the man, he cried for the rest of the evening when the woman got up and her belly was nearly as big as his Mom's was when they didn't bring his baby sister home the previous year, they told him she didn't make it, he didn't know exactly what tht meant except that the arguments carried on. His Dad was busy starting a new family while his Mom was crying herself to sleep every night

His Dad's cruelty didn't stop there, he came round for the very last time he'd ever seen the man, of course as he'd expected, his Mom was crying again, but this time it was a different cry she was begging, he came out of his room to see his Dad walking through the door "What's he saying?" he sat at the dining table opposite her asking, he'd stopped feeling, it was a lot for a 6 year old to understand but he knew upset

"It's not about you son, it's me and your Dad, he's moving on, we can't live together anymore"

"I saw him with a woman she had a big belly like you had" he told her

She cried again at her baby having to grow up too fast because of his parents "We'll need to move soon, your Dad wants to sell the house, he has another family to support"

"We have to leave?" he gasped, this was the last straw

"Sorry baby" she touched his hand, he remembered it feeling just as cold as his Dad's face that day, but that was because the heating had already been cut off

They'd moved out of the house to go live with Aunt Emma, his Mom's sister, that was painful, she didn't have children of her own so everything that Finn touched was a problem for her, it didn't take long for his Mom to find herself a job, and they were out of there, moving over to Hollywood for a live in job. His Mom went through some sort of depression, they both did actually but it sort of ended for his Mom when she started going to church. Three months later she was baptised, started being a voice in the church community and suddenly she was a different woman, but somewhere in that transition she'd forgotten to take him with her, he was stuck in depressed

Now at 10 years old he was still very much a loner except to his new found friend Mercy, she was straight talking, made him laugh and had his back no matter what, they'd quickly formed a bond, it was like two lonely souls had collided.

**End of Finn's Story**

"Ready?" Finn asked when the car stopped, they were talking for a purpose tonight, this wasn't about extra ice cream it was about changing people's lives

"Yeah" Mercy smiled as they walked into the house "Mom" she shouted as they walked through the renovation project to get to their garden house "I have an idea for helping the homeless and I know you're going to love it" she winked at Finn, the plan was delivered like a whirlwind, Jennifer stood holding her chest at the excitement of it all, it sounded elaborate but in effect she was going to crash a soup kitchen and serve some food

"That's great, so who's cooking?" her Mom asked

"Mom" Mercy whined at her Mom bursting her bubble

"Make the call sweetheart, lets see if it's possible first" her Mom told her, watching as she did as told, ten minutes later she was relaying back to everyone that they could help serve and bring what they could by way of beverages

"Can we bring some presents for the children?" Mercy asked

"If we can get anything this close to Christmas yes" her Dad told her

"Yey" Finn and Mercy cheered excited for the new venture

The rest of the evening was filled with planning, list writing and then sleep, tomorrow couldn't come quick enough

**24th December **

They were up and out before the shops opened Mercy and Finn weren't leaving anything to chance, they needed presents lots of them and preferably wrapped before 1pm because lunch was being served between 1.30 and 3.30pm to well over 300 people. Two hours later they'd collected all they could, cold drinks, hot drinks, a slush machine and a promise to be there from an ice cream vendor, with some 60 presents in the trunk and back seat of the car, they were pleased with their contribution, they'd gone all out on this.

They were at the venue early, excited and helping to sort everything out ready for the doors to be open, they found out that apparently this was a well established soup kitchen, that served around 400 people a day with meals and snacks available throughout the day so most of those attending were regulars

"Mercy, Finn" her Mom called them from across the hall, they'd just finished decorating the tree "I've managed to get Millie; the head cook, to agreed for you guys to share the potatoes" she grinned

"Wow" Finn smiled, Mercy was pleased to see that smile, he'd been down in the dumps last night, talked about being lonely, hating his parents and not wanting to be around, of course she'd kept his spirits up with today but she really didn't now how long he was going to stay happy after today ended

The tables were ready, the food was hot, the servers were in place and then the doors opened, Mercy had expected a burst of people waiting outside the door to run in and grab food but there were just a few people actually waiting, the older people set about giving them cups, cutlery and a drink before showing them to a table, where there was someone else waiting to tell them what was available to eat and serve them at their table if they preferred, it was all very organised.

The two hours sped past quickly, they were serving, talking, laughing and really enjoying their time with these people they didn't even know "I really enjoyed that" Mercy told her Mom when the serving slowed down to almost a halt "I want to do this all the time, it's a great feeling" she looked up at her Mom totally satisfied with her contribution "Look even JJ's quiet" she looked across at her brother playing with a boy his age "I think he's learning something too" she giggled at him hopefully learning to share as the two boys made an almighty noise with the drums they'd had as Christmas gifts today

"I can't have that" Finn held his ears "I'm going to sing my festive song"

"No" Mercy tried to stop him but he was off before he'd finished talking, she rolled her eyes and looked at her Mom as he found the song on the Christmas Hits CD and sang it again, they stood laughing as all the children with drums joined in, drowning out his croak while he stood looking pleased with himself

"Hi" a man walked up to them as they watched smiling

"Hello" James smiled at him holding his hand out for shaking

"You don't remember me do you, actually maybe you didn't even see me the other day?"

"Sorry?" James asked puzzled

"You gave my boy a present the other day outside the mall" he pointed at the little boy sitting with JJ

"I thought I recognised his face I just couldn't place it, that's my son sitting with yours" James told him as their shake got firmer

"I just wanted to say a proper thank you for making my son's Christmas one to remember"

"That is absolutely our pleasure" James looked back at his wife telling the man "Sorry, I'm James, this is Jennifer my wife, Mercy our daughter and of course JJ over there is our youngest"

"Nice to meet you" a face popped up from behind the man smiling

"Sorry" he tapped his son on the shoulder "This is Sam my eldest, Stevie over there is my youngest and I'm Daniel" he smiled at Sam grabbing his shoulder "Without him I'd be lost but he can be a pain sometimes" he rolled his eyes "10 going on 40"

"We understand that" Jennifer smiled at him looking sideways at her daughter, shaking Daniel's hand as she spoke

"Mercy" Daniel smiled holding his hand out for shaking

"Mr?"

"Just Daniel" he smiled shaking her hand

"Mercy" Sam held his hand out a smirk on his face

"Sam" she smirked back taking his hand, before she watched him shaking her parents hands and the formalities were over

Their parents stood talking as they watched Finn sing his song that was being destroyed by the drums, but he' was battling on "He should give up" Sam told Mercy stood smiling at the scene of Finn stood singing his version of** 'This Christmas' by Chris Brown **again

"But he won't" she told him giggling

"Do you know him?"

"Yeah his name's Finn, he's my best friend with no ears, it sounds perfect to him" she laughed

"And you let him go out like this?" he laughed

"He won't be stopped the whole church choir has tried"

"Come on lets go rescue him"

"And sing what?"

"Anything" he walked off, smiling at her rolling her eyes at him before following him "Ladies and Gentlemen and everyone else" Sam announced "I'm sure our friend Finn here's pretty tired we should help him out, come on" he waved at the other children standing around laughing or listening

"Sam" his Dad called across the room "Let me have this one" he walked over to his son

"Are you sure?" he asked surprised, it had been a while since his Dad drew attention to himself

"Yeah" he smiled

"Get the tissues out" Sam whispered to Mercy "He's in my Mom feels again" he smiled when his Dad started singing **'Memories' by Maroon 5 **and called him over

Chorus

**_Daniel: _**_Here's to the ones that we got, cheers to the wish you were here, but you're not, cause the drinks bring back all the memories, of everything we've been through. __Toast to the ones here today, toast to the ones that we lost on the way, cause the drinks bring back all the memories, and the memories bring back, memories bring back you_

_**Clint: **There's a time that I remember, when I did not know no pain, when I believed in forever, and everything would stay the same_  
_Now my heart feel like December when somebody say your name, cause I can't reach out to call you, but I know I will one day, yeah_

_**Both: **Everybody hurts sometimes, everybody hurts someday, aye aye, but everything gon' be alright, go and raise a glass and say, aye_

_Chorus: **Daniel**_

_**Both: **Doo doo, doo doo, doo doo, Doo doo, doo doo, doo doo, doo do, Doo doo, doo doo, doo doo doo, Memories bring back, memories bring back you_

_**Daniel: **There's a time that I remember when I never felt so lost, when I felt all of the hatred was too powerful to stop (ooh, yeah)  
Now my heart feel like an ember and it's lighting up the dark, I'll carry these torches for ya that you know I'll never drop, yeah_

_**Both: **Everybody hurts sometimes, everybody hurts someday, aye aye, but everything gon' be alright, go and raise a glass and say, aye_

_Chorus: **Both**_

_Doo doo, doo doo, doo doo, Doo doo, doo doo, doo doo, doo do, Doo doo, doo doo, doo doo doo, Memories bring back, memories bring back you_

"That wouldn't have happened if I hadn't started something" Finn stood wiping his face "They're good" he told Mercy

"Thanks" Sam held his hand out "That one's my Dad" he pointed at his Dad "My name's Sam"

"Hi Sam, Finn" he grabbed his hand smiling, he knew they were going to be friends

"And I'm Quinn" a girls face popped into the conversation "The other one was My Dad, I really enjoyed his Dad's song"

"Oh hi" Mercy smiled at the girl "Quinn meet Finn" she laughed at their names rhyming

"I just wanted to say thank you, I heard you two helped with today"

"Yeah we did but we didn't do it for a thank you, we want to help" Mercy told her looking back at Finn as she spoke, him and Sam stood smiling at her "I hope this is the first of many"

"So do I" Quinn smiled "I'm usually the only child volunteering, and to be honest I do it because my Dads force me to"

"Dads?" Mercy asked unable to understand the concept

"Yeah I have two Dad's" Quinn told her

"How do you?..."

"Mercy" Finn called for her attention, he knew she was about to offend the girl, she was inquisitive which was a good thing, but there was always going to be a time and a place for that stuff

"Quinn" one of the men from the kitchen shouted across the room

"You'll have to come back one of the weekends, I'm always here" Quinn told them as she walked away "Nice meeting you"

"Nice to meet you too" Finn shouted after her "What?" he asked at Mercy stood smiling at him

"Please tell me you've not suddenly developed a liking to girls?"

"I don't like girls" he snapped"

"You've got a funny way of showing it" Sam laughed

"Mercy" her Dad called, grabbing her attention

"I think it's time for us to go" she told Finn "You and your family should come spend Christmas with us"

"That's totally up to my Dad" Sam laughed

"We're going to help with the clean up, watch your brother will you" her Mom told her pointing at him and Stevie still playing

"Okay" she sat in a nearby chair, Sam and Finn joining her "So what brings you to soup kitchen?" she turned to Sam asking

"We moved up here for work about 6 months ago, it lasted about 2 and the accommodation came with the job"

"So where's your Mom?" Finn asked

"She died having Stevie"

"Sorry" Mercy mumbled regretting starting the conversation

"So what's your story, why do you want to help people like us?" Sam asked them

"It's Mercy's idea, I just helped out" Finn told him

"Actually my Dad brought a toy for your brother and I liked how it made me feel seeing his face light up, I just wanted to be responsible for some more of that"

"That's nice"

"It is actually, Mercy doesn't share food" Finn laughed

"We're actually just waiting for after the holidays, my Dad can make some money then and we can go back to Texas, he'll find work there" Sam told her

"Story time" Jennifer shouted getting everyone's attention as everyone sat in a chair somewhere waiting "This is a story about St Nicholas, usually we'd read about this on the 6th December, but because we see each other on the 24th we'll make it our special book that tells us our Christmas is here" she told the children "Ready?" she smiled at the little eager nodding faces, as she started reading **'A Visit from St. Nicholas' ****By Clement Clarke Moore ****_"Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse..." _**everyone sat quietly listening to intriguing story, some had never heard it before

"Sam" his Dad called, when Stevie finally left the crowd to say he was sleepy, he knew what that was about

"Sorry we have to go, we need to be early to get into the shelter"

"Of course" Mercy smiled, she felt bad about that but there was nothing she could think of doing except giving up her bed and she didn't think that was going to go down well with her parents so she didn't offer it

They waited for her parents to finish helping out, went home for a few hours, Finn and Mercy took the time to plan the next Christmas soup kitchen bonanza. Later that evening they took Finn home just after his Mom arrived home for Christmas

"We'll see you both tomorrow morning right?" Jennifer asked Carol as they deposited Finn

"I'll be there to help with the preparations" Carol told her kissing her cheek

There was just time for hot chocolate and marshmallows for nightcaps before bed

**25th December**

Mercy was woken by JJ's scream through the house, she rolled her eyes at the drama that boy got away with all the time, she didn't even have to look to see what was going on of course he wanted to open his present "Mercy" her Dad shouted

"Coming" she half answered, she knew she was going to be forced to open a present so he could open one to keep him quiet

"Sorry sweetheart" her Dad frowned when she got the living room door "But could you just open a present so JJ can do one of his?"

"Sure" she walked towards the tree to grab a present, there was no point in arguing, he'd said it like it was a request but she knew her Dad, she opened a small one, another tiny trinket for her Pandora bracelet "Thank you" she hugged her parents happy with their gift. JJ sat rummaging through the pile finding the most interestedly wrapped present to open, she smiled at the surprise on his face when he saw the robot he'd been making all that noise about in the toy shop the other day, that smile was worth Christmas, he was a little terror most of the time, but she loved him

**JJ's Story **

JJ seemed like an average baby at birth but by the time he got to 2 years old he wasn't talking as well as he should have been, that was the first time his parents had any cause for concern, boys were slower than girls, that was what their parents told them so they assumed that really was the case. On his second birthday they definitely noticed the difference in JJ's speech to a lot of the other children his age, so they arranged for a visit to see the paediatrician, they went in with their own diagnosis and it was confirmed quickly into the visit that there was a concern that JJ might be autistic.

Tests and assessments were done almost immediately and the report came back telling them their assumptions were right, the whole family read up on the effects this would have on JJ's life and over time they had adapted. He was immediately booked in for speech therapy and other services and there has been a marked improvement in his engagement with others, being in church seemed to be where he was most calm.

Coping with JJ's condition affected the family in many ways, at the age of 7 Mercy suddenly wasn't the centre of attention, that had shifted and she'd gone into herself for a while, the fact that they moved around a lot for their Father's work didn't help the situation either, it just meant more time was put into settling JJ into a new place, which generally meant Mercy was left to her own devices, she was forced to make friends outside of home, just for someone to talk to. Their Grandparents sort of thought but they never said, that JJ was just a spoilt child who cried like a baby for everything he wanted, they really didn't understand the concept of Autism, according to her Mom.

They started going to church around the time of his diagnosis, it helped the family and for a while Mercy got into it too, not that she didn't believe or anything but she was expecting a healing of some sort and when that didn't happen she started enjoying the Sundays because JJ was at peace with himself and everyone else, and if that was what God was doing for them that was enough to give thanks for. The church family were a huge help and support too, her Mom had to give up her full time job to look after him and that was a shock to her system, she'd gone back to work just 6 months after Mercy was born she was so keen to be independent, and now they were all totally dependent on her Dad's income which was a good one but Mom missed the social aspect of working and the church brought some of that back for her, getting her involved in things.

**End of JJ's Story **

Whatever the reason he was here now and they couldn't see life without him "I love you munchkin" she looked down at her brother sat on the floor getting super excited about his robot

"Love Mercy" he smiled, some of the few words he actually said clearly

"Thank you bro" she fist bumped him and walked away, her eyes filled with tears for him

"Sweetheart" her Mom followed her out the room "It's okay for you to cry, to question why your brother has autism, to feel frustrated and angry and all the many other emotions we all feel, but believe me, he'll be alright"

"I know" she hugged her Mom "I just love him so much" she stood in her Mom's arms until the upset was over

"Come on get dressed we have guests coming" her Mom finally whispered in her ear "I'll go sort JJ out"

"I wouldn't call Carol and Finn guests" she laughed

"Get dressed" she walked off telling her

It was way past 10am when she emerged again, fully dressed with traditional Christmas ribbon in her hair, red dress and red shoes brought for the day, these days alternated between red, green, white and black, this year it was red's turn, the house was a sparkling red and gold, the tree as high as the ceiling, they'd even put decorations at the front of the main house, although inside it was a shell. It was something like 22* outside but inside there was a definite Christmas feel, the smells of mistletoe, fresh mince pies, eggnog and the pine tree made you believe you were in some winter wonderland somewhere

"Get that Mercy" her Mom shouted she knew it was Finn and Carol she skipped across the hall to let them in

"Happy Christmas" she opened the door smiling at her friend

"Happy Christmas" Finn smiled hugging her "Here"

"Thank you" she looked at him before looking at Carol "Happy Christmas Mrs Hudson"

"Back at you Mercy" she held her spare arm out for Mercy to fall into "Here you go" she handed Finn the few things she had in her other hand "Put those under the tree, I have to help with the cooking" she wondered off towards the familiar kitchen leaving Finn and Mercy to carry the few gifts

"Seriously?" Mercy asked wide eyed as they walked away

"I'm sure your Mom knows how to work that out" Finn laughed, his Mom was the worst cook in the world, not one of the worst, the absolute worst, even in the diner she worked in, she was only allowed to pour the already made coffee, with a smile of course "She'll set the table or something"

"There's nothing wrong with my cooking" Carol laughed at overhearing the children

"That's …" Mercy didn't know what to add, she knew where Finn got his thoughts on how good his singing was, his Mom was the same about her cooking, she left it there as the kitchen door closed behind Finn's Mom "Saved by the door" she giggled

"I really enjoyed yesterday" Finn told her as they walked into the living room with the presents

"Me too, I hope we can do it again next year"

"That Quinn girl was alright as well"

"She was?" Mercy looked at him wondering what that was about "You.."

"No I still hate girls, except for you"

"Oh" she turned to look at her Dad sitting in front of the TV glued to some replay of something or the other "Dad" she walked over to him, Finn following "We met a girl yesterday she said she had two Dad's, I wanted to ask her how that happened but Finn thought it would be rude, so would you know how someone happens to have two Dads?"

"It could be that her Mom met someone else and he treats her good so she calls him Dad" Finn told her

"It could be" James smiled at Finn's explanation being relevant "Or it could be what we call a same sex relationship, two men or women in love, I'm sure you remember that lesson at school"

"I was probably moving around that much I missed it" she laughed "And that's normal?"

"If that's what both people want, then you can't choose who you love"

"I guess not" she looked at Finn "I love Finn and he irritates me so much sometimes I wonder why, but I guess I just do, he's my best friend"

"Mercy" he squirmed at her sloppy words "You're my best friend too, and all the rest of it" he smiled at her humming and then singing **'Best Friend' by Brandy**

_**Mercy:** Whenever I'm down, I call on you my friend, helping hand you've been, in my time of need and so I'm_  
_I'm calling you now, just to make it clear, what else can I do, won't you hear my plea_

She held her hand out for him to take over, laughing at him shaking his head vigorously in protest "Come on" she giggled

"It's a girly song" he moaned "Mr J tell her"

"I'm not getting in the middle of that one" James laughed

"Come on, it's Brandy you love her"

"Don't tell anyone I did this" he laughed at her cheering as he started singing

_**Finn: **Friends may come and friends may go, but you should know that, I've got your back_  
_It's automatic so, never hesitate to call, cuz I'm your sister, and always for ya._

_**Both: **Don't know what I'd ever do without ya, from the beginning to the end, you've always been here right beside me, so I call you my best friend_  
_Through the good times and the bad, whether I lose or if I win, I know one thing that never changes, and that's you as my best friend._

A couple of hours later, JJ was still invested in his robot, the seasonal smells were coming from the kitchen and the Christmas carols were chiming through the stereo, Mercy and Finn were still finding edible pieces of their gingerbread house, it felt like Christmas, a well deserved one

"I'll get it" James shouted at the door ringing

"Dig deep Daddy" Mercy smiled as he walked past to go listen to carol singers

"Hi" Sam's head popped round the door "Your Dad said it was alright for me to just walk in" the rest of him came through the door telling them

"Sam" Mercy smiled at seeing him standing there "Where's Stevie?"

"He's a bit shy, he's with Dad"

"Sam" Finn got up the same time as Mercy smiling at this new friend they'd made joining them for dinner

"Apparently your parents asked and my Dad said yes" Sam told them "Happy Christmas"

"Sorry, happy Christmas" Mercy giggled

"Yeah, happy Christmas" Finn smiled

**Sam's Story**

His Dad had married young to a girl his parents didn't approve of, so he never knew his Father's side of family and just after he was born, his Dad got a job on the rigs so they travelled to his job. They were happy as a family, he never felt like he'd missed out on anything, his Mom was always there, there was always laughter lots of kissing and hugging, that was his life. When his Mom got pregnant with Stevie they were all happy about it, it was something his parents had sat him down and talked to him about so he was more than excited to have a little brother.

When they finally told him Stevie was on the way it seemed like they'd waited forever, for as long as he could remember he'd been asking them about this baby brother, finally he was on his way. His Mom was in bed a lot he remembered that much about the situation, then there were worried faces, everyone being extra nice to him about being cute, brave and a big boy and then crying. He remembered a woman coming up to him, really old in the face grabbing his cheeks and telling him he reminded her of his Dad when he was little, he looked up at his Dad wondering how that was possible, his Dad had never been little.

Then there was shouting, a whole lot of shouting "You never wanted to know when she was well, get out" his Dad yelled at this frail old woman, it was the first time he'd ever heard his Dad shout, he was frightened

"Dad" he stepped to him grabbing his legs, he remembered his Dad's hands gently picking him up and squeezing him in his arms before taking him into the bedroom to be with him Mom before the shouting started again

She looked like she was in pain "Is the baby hurting you?" he asked his Mom

"No sweetheart" she held her arms out for him to run into, he went and stayed there until his Dad collected him, amid all that chaos, that was the last time he'd spoke to his Mom his Dad came home about a week later with Stevie in his arms telling him "Mommy had gone to heaven and left her little angel for us to look after" presenting him with Stevie

At the age of 5 he soon learned to be responsible, he was making bottles, helping with bath times, singing Stevie to sleep even done some night feeds when he needed to, it was hard for his Dad to keep working on the rigs, so in the end he had to make a choice, he chose his children. They sold the house, it was much too high maintenance for the laundry job he got, they were making ends meet only because they had the money from the house, when they were down to their last few hundred his Dad got a call from one of his old oil rig buddies and the next thing they knew there was a future waiting for them in Hollywood.

It took exactly four and a half months for that to fall flat and with it went the car and the apartment, overnight they were on the streets and Daniel was working two bit jobs again just to provide food for his children and they were sleeping in shelters. He'd got the promise of some work back in Texas after the holidays so that's what they were all working towards right now, Sam had a paper job and Daniel was saving for tickets to get them all back home.

**End of Sam's Story **

"So.. what are we doing here?" he looked at the books scattered around the floor

"Looking for a song for Finn to sing at his music lesson" Mercy told him

"Music lesson?" his eyes showing surprise

"Come on you've heard him, I'm being nice" Mercy giggled

"It's going to make me even better" Finn laughed, Sam and Mercy looked at each other grinning

"Group photo" Mercy jumped up to go grab the camera "Close in and say Christmas" she told them taking the snap

"Dinner's ready" Jennifer walked into the room telling them as she picked up JJ "Stevie's here baby, you like Stevie yes?" she asked her son as they walked out the room

Everyone sat around the table, James got up smiling "Our first Christmas in our new home, in a new town, and I hope a new family" he smiled "We welcome Carole, Finn, Daniel, Sam and Stevie into our family, may this always feel the same to you as it does to us right now, home" he smiled "So will you say the family grace please Carol?" James asked looking around the table set for 9


	2. Last Christmas

** A Day To Call Christmas **

**Last Christmas **

**13 Years old **

The house was unrecognisable compared to the shell they'd walked into three years ago, the entrance was as grand as Mercy had ever dreamt it would be the centre dome housing the fan shaped stairs was made of shiny crystal glass that glistened against the floodlights outside. At the top of the stairs there was a seating area that allowed viewers to look across the gardens while relaxing, the staircase parted ways at the top leading to the east and west wings, each room themed by the colour of a gemstone, the external had kept his rich history but inside was totally modern. The family had moved out of the garden house and into the west wing of the house, Mercy was still waiting for her Den to be done, but then she was also waiting for her Dad to make his mind up as to whether they were moving or not. The swimming pool, sauna rooms and steam rooms were all set up and the church were having regular barbeques on Saturday afternoons there, the family had integrated into the community

Sam's Dad had, as promised, made the money for the move just after that first Christmas as they'd planned, and by the end of that January they were back in Texas, his Dad was working in construction and they were building themselves up again. They never forgot that act of kindness the Jones showed, they continued to keep in touch with the family and made it a tradition to go up every year for Christmas

JJ had made a real friend in Stevie, they didn't talk much, that wasn't really in JJ's remit right now, but they played and laughed a lot and somehow they seemed to understand each other without words.

Finn was still going through his secret depression, but since their initial meeting when they were 10 years old Quinn and he were getting to know each other very well, they'd become really good friends, actually in that first year all three of them had, although Mercy sometimes felt like she was either in the way or being used as a shield for whatever it was they were doing, she'd soon learned the reason behind that feeling.

**Flashback**

**12 Years Old**

Just after the previous Christmas Finn told her that Quinn and he were going out with each other "I asked Quinn to be my girlfriend" he sat in her garden telling her

"What do you mean, I thought you didn't like girls?"

"I don't but this one, I think she's special"

"Finn you're 12 years old, what would we know about special?"

"I just feel different when I'm around her" he smiled "Please be happy for me Mercy, it's the first thing I've found to smile about since finding you as a friend, it's important to me what you think"

"What do you and Quinn do together?" she rolled her eyes trying to be interested

"We hold hands, I've kissed her once, and I so want to do it again"

"Just be careful you know how your Mom is"

"We will" he hugged her happy she was on board with it "I thought you might have been jealous"

"Of what?"

"Me getting a girlfriend"

"You are so full of yourself" she giggled "I hate boys you know that, except you and JJ of course"

"Of course" he giggled

After that the relationship between those two was blatant "What are you guys doing?" Mercy asked when she walked into the room to them shuffling around two days after Christmas

"Nothing" Finn wiped his lips smiling at her

"You know you guys are too young to be doing all that?" she asked

"It's just kissing" Quinn laughed "You should try it, it's fun"

"As much fun as it might be, I still don't think you should be doing it" Mercy told her

"I thought you were alright with this?" Finn asked concerned

"I am, I just think you guys forget sometimes that nobody else knows, you need to be more careful, I could have been any of our parents then"

"True, we'll be more careful" Finn told her taking her comment on board

It was less than a month after the careful chat that Mercy was talking to them again, she'd walked into the garden house, it was still furnished and hooked up to everything so she still went there for some quiet sometimes when JJ got too much or he was having a bad day and she thought it was better she was out the way. "Guys" she gasped walking into her bedroom to see them in her bed "What the hell are you doing?"

"Give us a minute Mercy, I'll be out in a second" Finn's head nodded for her to get out the room as Quinn lay still hoping she wouldn't be noticed

"Quinn get up and go home" she told her closing the door for them to make themselves presentable

"I'll see you tomorrow" Quinn walked through the hall sheepishly and out the front door

"Don't go through the house, you look a mess" Mercy shouted after her, turning to see Finn's face not happy about that conversation "What?" she asked him, watching him sit down "Look it's clear no one's listening to me but all I want to say is, you guys better be careful"

"We are no one will find out"

"I mean protection Finn, you guys are using protection right?"

"She's just going through some stuff at the moment"

"Everyone's going through stuff" she cut her eye at him

**Quinn's Story **

Quinn's parents married in their late 30s, and by the time they finished enjoying each other it was a race to get the family thing done, they finally did it attached to all the tests, examinations and incisions followed by lots of bedrest, Quinn was born a healthy, beautiful, blond haired, green eyed baby girl and after that for the next five years life for them was at it's best. At 5 years old she didn't really know what was going on when the argument woke her out of her sleep she cried, screamed her parents into silence as she became their priority, she sat on her Father's lap listening to a conversation she didn't really understand, which ended with her Mother calmly kissing her on the forehead, grabbing a case and she was gone.

It didn't feel like anything for a while except that her Mother wasn't around, but as she got into school she started to realise that her Mom should be living with her and started asking questions. Her Dad gave her the story that her Mom although she thought family life was what she wanted one day just decided it wasn't and left them, and she took that until she was around 7 years old

"Sweetheart" her Dad smiled as she got in the car "I need you to meet someone, he's important to me" she didn't say anything she just dropped her school bag on the seat beside her and put her seatbelt on "I think he's going to be around for a while" the drive home was quiet, her Dad looking at her through his rear view mirror every now and again, she could tell he was nervous

"Hello" a bold headed man sat in the couch in their living room smiling at her, he looked nervous too

"Hello" she smiled back, staying close to her Dad

"Sweetheart this is Clint"

"I'm very pleased to finally meet you" Clint got up and walked towards them saying

And that was the extent of the information she got about the man, he was at the house regularly at first, then he was staying way after she went to bed, then one morning he just popped up for breakfast, coming from her parents bedroom. They did stuff together every weekend she actually enjoyed having him around, he was making her Dad happy and he was treating her right and by the time she was 9 years old she'd made her mind up

"Clint" she looked up at the man walking beside her, just as they'd decided to stop for lunch at the theme park "I want to call you Dad, can I?"

"Sure" he looked at her with water filled eyes before looking up at her Dad "Daddy Clint sounds nice"

"And you're Daddy Spencer" she turned to her Dad telling him

"No Sweetheart I'm just Dad" he laughed, and that was it they'd become this unit that no one could penetrate, she had no thoughts or questions about her Mother for a long while

Then just after her 12th birthday her world came crashing down apparently her Dad had cheated on Clint and he left the house, he was still coming every weekend to take her out and stuff and she had hoped they'd get over it and get back together, but then on her last visit with Clint he told her he'd met someone else and although he wanted to still be in her life he was moving on relationship wise.

"Go beg him to come back" she shouted at her Dad

"Sweetheart it's not that easy, he's... we've moved on" he told her

"Nobody asked me" she snapped at him "What about what I want?"

"Of course that's important but you can't force people to love each other sweet, it doesn't work like that"

"I hate you, I hate both of you" she hissed at him "I want my Mom, she left you too didn't she?"

"Yeah" he told her, his tone was questionable, there was something there she had to ask the question, this was the first conversation they'd ever had about her Mother

"Why did Mom leave?" she looked at him with demand in her face

"She decided she didn't want a family"

"What?" that wasn't what she was expecting, she wanted someone to be unfaithful, for it all to have been his fault, anything but what she was hearing, which was she didn't want her

"Sorry Sweetheart but she didn't want the family life, she was in love with someone else, she was single, free and I guess who your Mom wanted"

"She?" she gasped "Mom's with a woman?" she asked "Could you two get anymore messed up?" she hissed at him running out the door

**End of Quinn's Story **

"She'd just had this massive row with her Dads, they've split up... you know" Finn looked at Mercy with sad eyes "I know how that feels"

"I know you do" she looked at her friend

"Plus she'd just found out that her Mom didn't want her and I guess we were just feeling like we needed someone to really love us and it happened"

"That all happened just?"

"No a while ago"

"So what, this wasn't the first time for you guys?" she asked shocked

"No"

"Please tell me you're protecting yourselves?"

"We will from now on, if it happens again"

"Finn" she frowned not impressed with him at all "I thought you knew better than that"

"I do, but it just happened Mercy, please don't judge me"

"I'm not judging, I'm just sad" she was still listening to him moaning, he was still talking about ending his life, angry with his parents, her friend wasn't in charge of himself right now let alone to be thinking about a girlfriend with her own personal baggage and now there was the added mix of a possible pregnancy, of course she was sad for him, she was sitting there seeing him turn into the man he hated most in the world, and if there was one thing her parents had taught her never to fight against, it was love, she was helpless

It was just over five months later they were sat in choir practice as church, it was only September but they'd started rehearsing carols already, it was this new guy Artie's singing debut, Finn had said he had a brilliant voice, everyone was eager to hear what he was bringing to the table, Finn grabbed Mercy's hand and squeezed it until she looked at him

"What's up?" she looked at him, shocked at the terror in his eyes "Please tell me …." she rolled her eyes

"Shh" her Mom told her as Artie started to sing his well rehearsed **'Last Christmas' by James TW** while everyone hummed along and rocked, cheering as he brought the song to a stunning end

"Well done" Jean the choir master smiled at the end, Finn and Mercy sat impressed, Finn more so as he'd pulled him in from the singing lessons he was still having

"Don't bother she's taken" Mercy smiled at Artie as she stood next to him watching his eyes on Quinn "She's with my best friend" she told his smiling face "And I was past impressed with your song"

"Thank you..." he smiled

"Mercy, my name's Mercy"

"Nice to meet you, finally, Finn talks about you all the time"

"He does?" she looked at Finn and Quinn walking off "Good things I hope" she giggled

"Of course"

"So you'll be around for Christmas then?"

"I hope so"

"I'll see you next practice" she walked off concerned that Finn and Quinn seemed to be having angry words before they parted company "Finn" she shouted after him watching him walk faster away from her "Finn" she called making after him, her head looking to where Quinn had disappeared to "I knew this was going to end badly" she huffed walking after her friend "Finn" she stood over him watching him perched on the church graveyard bench "What's happened?"

"I..." he looked up at her before breaking down again

"Finn" she perched on the bench beside him "You can talk to me about anything you know that"

"She's pregnant Mercy"

"God Finn, you guys are only 12" she gasped, she really didn't know what to say, at this point she might have been just a little more scared than him "What are you going to do"

"I.."

"We can ask Will for advice, he'll give it us without telling I'm sure"

"Will's a Sunday school teacher, of course he'll tell"

"So what are you going to do?"

"We want to keep the baby"

"Can you hear yourself, are you crazy?"

"Can I hear myself, can you hear me?" he looked at her with a look on his face she'd never seen before

"Sorry" she stroked his arm "I'm in shock, of course I hear you" she took a deep breath, she needed to be focused because next he was going to expect her to have all the answers to this mess

"So what should we do?" he looked at her with that expectant look she knew was coming, he'd always been that way, problem solving was never his strong point

"I guess I need to speak to Quinn first see what she thinks about all this"

"She's in a mood because I want to keep it quiet for a bit longer" he looked at her confirming what the argument was about earlier "I think she's going to use it against her Dad, you know their relationship is super strained right now, I don't want her throwing it in his face like we planned it"

"I'll speak to her" Mercy squeezed his arm "Come on they'll be wondering what's going on if we stay here any longer" she told him watching him get up and wipe his face dry before they stepped off back towards the church

The next day on the way to school Mercy got the chance to speak to Quinn, they agreed to meet up at lunch time and sat on the school playing field, eating sandwiches and talking "This was a stupid, selfish thing to do Quinn" Mercy told her breaking the silence between them "You know Finn's in a bad place and now you pile this on him, I'm scared for where this will send him"

"Sorry but I think the opposite, we both do, we think this will mend us, we both know how we don't want to do this, and surely that can only make us better parents"

"Parents" Mercy laughed rolling her eyes "Can you hear yourself, how far gone are you?"

"I don't know, I haven't been anywhere"

"So you might not even be pregnant?" Mercy asked

"I'm pregnant alright" she stood up and lifted her jumper to reveal an enormous baby bump

"Shit when's the baby due?"

"I don't know" she banged her bum back down on the grass "It's an accident I'll admit that, but it's not an unwanted pregnancy, we're sure about that"

"You two" Mercy rolled her eyes, give me the rest of the day to sort something out and I'll get back to you" she started packing the left over food away

"Can I.." Quinn pointed at the bag of food "It's for the baby" she smiled, Mercy smiled back and handed her the bag of food before walking away

The next day she took them to the clinic she'd been told about after contacting one of those online help services, they caught the bus to the next town and went to find out what was happening for Quinn and the baby and what they could do next

"Five and a half months" Quinn shrieked at the scan results, sitting next to Finn their hands welded together as the nurse went through what needed to happen before booking them in for the delivery

"Who'll pay for this?"

"I... I don't know" Quinn frowned "My Dad I guess"

"Okay" the nurse stepped off to go get her course of medication, a baby pack and leaflets

They left uncertain but excited, they'd only got four more months to wait to meet this new addition but as they got closer to home it dawned on them, they couldn't keep their secret any more

"You have to tell your parents" Mercy told them as the bus came to a stop "I have to rush Mom will be worried, but good luck" she kissed them both as they walked off to go tell Quinn's Dad

Neither announcement went well, Quinn ended up walking out the house for her Father calling her every name under the sun and demanding that she get rid of the baby. They'd planned on the way over to Finn's that they'd live at his house until they could afford somewhere for themselves, only to find his Mother wasn't up for their decision either. They sat in the bus stop for a while as daylight left the sky they had no option they walked over to Mercy's house and slept in the garden house for the night, meeting Mercy at school the next day

"What happened?" she asked as she walked past them to sit on the swing

"It went well" Quinn smiled

"It didn't go well" Finn told her at the same time

"Which one was it?" she looked from one to the other

"We slept in the garden house last night" Finn told her

"Our garden house?"

"Yes, Quinn's Dad said he wanted us to get rid of the baby and we walked out and my Mom threw us out, she didn't even have a conversation with us, she said if we want to act like adults we need to get out there and survive like adults have to"

"But you're still children"

"That's kind of obvious" Quinn told her "But it's too late to get rid of the baby, and we still don't want to" she grabbed Finn's hand

"What are we going to do?" Finn asked

"Let me speak to my parents" Mercy suggested

That night she took her two friends to her parents and explained the situation, her parents weren't happy and they had to speak to Finn and Quinn's parents who finally agreed they could stay at the Jones residence until things blew over, actually Quinn's Dad suggested things would never blow over. So Finn and Quinn became the permanent residents of the garden house, with food provided by the Jones family and, unbeknown to them, some of the compassionate church members

**End of Flashback**

It was a week before Christmas and Finn, Quinn, Artie and Mercy felt like real friends, they spent many hours in the garden house listening to gospel music, singing and talking all things parenthood, truth be told Artie and Mercy were just as excited to meet this little one as their parents were

"Mercy" Artie approached her one evening as they sat watching Finn and Quinn all loved up over their baby

"Artie?" she rolled her eyes at him "How can I help you?"

"I was wondering, we spend so much time together, it seems.."

"Stop right there Mr, I have no intention of being a young Mom, and the only things my lips need to kiss is food" she held her hand up to him

"You can be so..." he laughed

"I told you not to try" Finn called across to him

"I don't take orders, I'm not that guy"

"Guy?" Mercy laughed "We're kids, 13 year old kids"

"So what are you saying love isn't possible at our age?" Quinn asked

"Nothing of the sort, just that I want to do things different to you guys" she looked at Finn smiling "I want everything you have but in a different way I guess" she flicked her hair off her shoulders wondering if she'd said the right thing

"I have a love song for Quinn, help me out please Artie" Finn jumped up cutting the sudden silence, trying to impress his crowd with his serenade to his girlfriend "I know we're both feeling a bit abandoned, and I want to cheer us up" he grabbed Sam's spare guitar he kept there to play his rendition of **'Home' by James Gillespie **went down a treat with Quinn

**Finn {With Artie}: **_We'll start with this key, you, me and my three, we won't have much money, but, but every penny that I have, I'll spend on building a home_  
_ And you'll see, without this TV, we could pick up where we began, making friends with each other again, {as we build our home}_

_ {And I will hold you, when it's cold inside, inside, and when we're old you, know I won't leave your side, your side}_  
_ Because you are my home_

_ We'll fill up each room, like flowers and bloom, the shelves will stay busy with the memories we make every day_  
_ {And the places where nothing once was} will be covered in us, And the outside world, Won't have anything else to say, {Because this is our home}_

_ {And I will hold you, When it's cold inside, Inside, a__nd when we're old you, Know I won't leave your side, your side}_  
_ Because you are my home_

_ When we're old one day, and my hair has gone grey, my only wish is, that I can turn to you and say, we built our home_  
_ And I will hold you, when it's cold inside, Inside ooh, {a__nd I will hold you, when it's cold inside, Ooh_  
_ And when we're cold you, know I won't leave your side}_  
_ Because you are my home_

"That was sweet" Mercy smiled at him singing to his girl "That voice has improved much, and you're not too bad yourself" she turned to Artie smiling

"Don't ever be fooled" Artie laughed "There's an almost man in this body"

"Please" she held her hand up at him, she knew the reason why he'd have thought something might go on between them, she was spending so much time with him lately, but her reasons were purely friendly, she knew herself she had to make that clear from the off

**Artie's Story **

Artie's Dad was working on the opening of a new mall in the area and the family had moved up for the three year contract he'd bagged himself as the Manager. He'd had vast experience of successfully opening two other branches for the multi-billionaire tycoon, and knew he could make a go at a third one. Artie was their spoilt youngest child, his older sister had left the nest over five years ago and moved to New York to pursue a career in entertainment. He was a monster in the house but once in company he was the model child, and his very best strength was his voice, he sang like an angel.

His Mom was very protective of him, treated him like a fragile baby, cleaning him every second of the day, making sure his clothes were always straight, truth was she had what was termed as OCD, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, so when he was a child her keeping him clean was a must, but children grow up. Artie suffered in silence as he was taught how to make his bed folding corners to create seams rather than creases, cleaned his toys in and out of their sanitised box on a daily basis, learned a rigorous bathroom routine which took longer as he grew up. Even now as a teenager he'd visit the bathroom at Mercy's house and spend a while cleaning taps, bowls, floors windows everything

He had long conversations with his friend about never wanting to be like his Mom, but he never could see that he was already like her it was ground into him, he already had her habits. He insisted those weren't traits they were just things he'd learnt to do the ensure his Mom was always pleased with him

Other than that and the apparent neglect of his Father in the family home Artie was a level headed boy, that looked quirky most the time but that was how he wanted to look, he liked people to ask questions about him ad the more outlandish he dressed the more questioning he got, it was a sort of a buzz for him

Their first conversations about his condition was awkward Finn had come straight out asking him "Why do you spend so much time in the bathroom" as they walked out of church

"My Mom likes me to be clean she has OCD" he told them like it was something everyone should know about

Of course Mercy went straight home and did her research on the condition, asking questions of her family about support, triggers and medication "It's fine wanting to know all this Sweetheart but it's Artie's Mom that has the condition not him, you maybe need to research about support for him as your friend" James told her

"You're right" she told him going back to her computer, by the time she met Artie again she was well versed on the condition and felt better able to support him, even listening needed some knowledge of what the person talking was on about, she always tried to be a good friend. She understood the job was going to be a slow process but she had a plan, she was going to support Artie into being himself instead of who his parents expected him to be

**End of Artie's Story **

"We're doing carol singing again this year are you joining us?" Finn asked Artie trying to calm the situation down between the two friends, he knew how Mercy could get if Artie pushed it anymore

"I wouldn't mind but I don't always sing Christian songs and carols, I love R&B" he laughed

"And your Mom lets you sing that in the house?" Finn asked shocked

"Yeah why not?"

"Your Mom has OCD mine has CD" he laughed

"CD?" Artie asked puzzled

"Christianity Disorder" Finn laughed "She sees nothing except God, reminds me of that Carrie film"

"We all seem to be the victims of our parents misfortunes" Quinn half smiled

"I think most of my Mom's problems are because my Dad's never there, he's always out at meetings or events, and they never speak when they're home together everything just seems so strained" Artie shared

"At least they're in the same room at some point, my Mom is nowhere to be found, my Dad's are like north and south actually my Dad Clint just left; one day he was interested for about a month and then that was it, he found someone new and that was it. My real Dad has discovered these morals he never had when he married my Mom knowing he was gay and doesn't want to have anything to do with me or my child because we happen to be straight" Quinn announced

"That's not the reason why" Mercy laughed "How can someone hate someone for being straight?"

"You know what I mean" Quinn laughed

"She just likes to always be the most hard done by" Finn looked at her annoyed

"And?" she looked up at him asking

"It's annoying sometimes" he told her

"So now I'm annoying?" she sat up looking at him

"Now you're hormonal Quinn" Mercy told her cutting the argument before it started, those two were always snapping at each other, there was never any normal for them either they were totally in love or at war

"Is Sam coming this Christmas?" Quinn asked

"I guess, I haven't heard any different" Mercy told her

"Does he come every Christmas?" Artie asked

"Yeah, his family have come every Christmas since Mercy and her family came here" Finn told him "We had our first Christmas together that year too didn't we?"

"Yeah" Mercy smiled at her friend "It seems like just yesterday we met, I can't believe it's been over 3 years"

"So much has happened" He smiled

His mood was always something that was on Mercy's mind, but Quinn had more or less taken her place on the best friend angle and only right it should be that way, she just didn't think she'd lose her best friend so early, Artie was a friend too and although she knew he thought he had a chance she was still willing to keep him as one "Are you alright?" she asked Quinn watching her fidget

"Yeah, baby's on my bladder I think" she got up waddling her 8 month gone baby bump to the bathroom

"Any time soon" Mercy smiled at Finn excitedly

"I can't wait to meet him"

"It's a boy?" Artie asking

"No it's a girl actually" Finn smiled "And she won't be getting pregnant at 13 years of age"

"Are you sure you're alright?" Mercy looked at him again, still concerned

"I'm fine Mercy, I have a baby coming in less than a month, I don't have a job, nowhere to live, no family to support me, I'm shitting myself but I'm fine" he told her

"We'll talk later" she looked at Artie

"Okay" Quinn walked back into the room "Can we got this movie watched?"

"Sure" Artie picked up the remote and started the film "Popcorn?" he asked passing the bowl around

**23rd December **

"I'm exhausted" Mercy told Artie as he opened his front door to her

"But all the shopping done yeah?"

"Yeah, of course JJ performed again, but I guess everyone's used to seeing him around now" she laughed "We got a record 60 presents this year"

"It's getting better every year"

"It is isn't it" she smiled "You alright?"

"Shit's hitting the fan in there" he shut the door as he stepped outside to her "Dad's just announced he's off to Germany for the holidays" they walked away from the house, they had to get to church for the last carol singing practice before they were let loose on the local shopping centre

"When are you going?" Mercy asked

"I'm not, Mom and I are staying here"

"Nobody works on Christmas, it's a holiday"

"My Dad's found the one person in the world that does" he laughed

"Sorry Artie, I can ask my parents it you and your Mom can come to dinner at ours, save you cleaning a thousand times, if that helps"

"You can ask, but I don't think my Mom will accept"

"Even if my parents ask her?"

"I don't know, it's never been done before" he laughed

"My parent can work wonders" Mercy laughed "Just get her to the soup kitchen tomorrow afternoon"

"I'll do my part" he smiled

"And I'll do mine" she giggled as they walked into the church hall

"About time" Finn shouted as they opened the door

"What's up?" Mercy asked walking towards him

"We think this is it, she's having the baby"

"But it's not due for another three weeks" Artie walked faster towards the crowd of women

"Where are you going?" Finn put his arm out asking his friend

"To see this"

"And I'm the Father and I'm standing here so I ask again, where are you going?"

"Sorry, I'm excited I guess, I've never seen a birth before" Artie backed off

"Yeah, to quote the words of the great MJ" Mercy gasped at the scene "You are not alone" she grabbed her chest to remind herself to breathe "What about getting her to hospital?"

"Will's gone to get his car"

"Okay, Finn I'm waiting" Will stood in the door watching as Finn walked through the group of women to get his girlfriend out of there

"This is where the fairy tale ends" One of them told him "It's tangling the heartstrings from here on" Finn felt terrified as he almost snatched Quinn out of the woman's hands and walked away

"Come with us, will you?" he looked at Mercy, his eyes begging

"Yeah" she smiled looking round at Artie as they passed her "Go tell my parents to bring Quinn's baby bag to the hospital" she told him

"Sure" he stepped off to do as told, there was something about that woman using her forcefulness on him that made him feel submissive, he couldn't make out if it was naturally Mercy or some warped thing from his past manifested from his Mom always shouting orders at him, but one thing was for sure he liked it, and every time she did it he wanted to ask how damn high.

Just over 7 hours later, they were standing greeting Angel into the world, called so because of being born so close to Christmas, they thought about the Angel Gabriel and all the good news she's brought with her before that joyous day, Finn felt like a king, he was so proud he felt his chest was going to burst "Excuse me" he told all the visitors while he went out to find a phone "Mom" he giggled, suddenly he needed her to know this brilliant thing had happened to him "She's here Angel was born today, oh Mom you should see her she's... Mom?" he asked looking at the phone "Mom?" he held the phone looking at the face of it making sure it was dead. He couldn't believe she'd put the phone down on this news he called her again "Mo..." he got out before it went dead again, he banged the receiver with such force he was sure it was broken but he didn't care, he needed to let that out.

"Finn" Mercy shouted him from down the hall "We're going home now, leave you two to get some rest"

"Okay" he wiped his eyes as he walked towards her

"Happy tears?" she asked smiling as she took his hug

"Yeah" he cried on her shoulder for a minute or so before letting her go, he had a child to look after now, it was never going to be all about him ever again "I'm a Dad" he laughed

"You'll be a great Dad" she kissed his cheek before they made it back to everyone else "They just said if everything is alright they'll be home tomorrow afternoon"

"That's good, I'd hate to miss Carol singing"

"What and leave Quinn on her own with the baby?"

"God it's a whole new life isn't it, I'll ask if she minds, it's just something we've always done together"

"I'll always be your friend Finn, but I need to take a back seat now, you have a family, we talked about this"

"Yeah I know, but you know me I have to have it all" he laughed "You'll be my best friend forever you know that don't you?" he stopped to look at her "I love you like a sister"

"And you'll always be mine because I love you like a brother" she smiled "Come on sloppy" she pulled him by the hem of his top

"Everything alright?" Quinn looked from one to the other as they stood in the doorway

"Fine" Mercy giggled "I think he's overwhelmed at being a Daddy"

"That makes two of us" Quinn laughed

"We need to get off, let you guys get some rest, it's been a hell of a day" James told them shuffling Mercy, JJ and Artie out the door, Jennifer following him

"We'll have everything ready for when you get out, don't worry" Jennifer told them, trying to put the already nervous new parents mind at rest

**24th December**

It had been a funny night, knowing that Finn and Quinn were at the hospital getting used to becoming parents had unsettled Mercy. Of course she was happy for them but there was a dark side to Finn that nobody else seemed to know about except for her, and that side had shown itself for a second in the corridor at the hospital. The morning was taken up with unpacking the baby furniture and assembling it, her parents had been on the phone to both Carol and Spencer trying to change their minds but they wouldn't be moved, they didn't agree with any of it and didn't want to know.

"Will you be round for Christmas as usual?" she heard her Mom asking, after rallying the troops to collect the soup kitchen stuff "Okay" she frowned putting the phone down

"Is she coming?" James asked, Mercy carried on working, not getting into her parents conversation but hearing every word

"Not while Finn and the baby are here, no" her Mom told him "And Spencer's refusing to come if Quinn and the baby are here, I don't know who are the children and who are the adults" she frowned "That must be them" she turned to look at the ringing phone, expecting the new family to call any minute

Just under an hour later Finn and his new family were back home "This looks... permanent" Finn walked into the baby zone smiling

"It's for as long as you need it" Jennifer told him

"Thank you for this you don't know how much we appreciate it" he hugged Jennifer smiling "And you Mr J" he hugged him too

"Yeah I don't know where we'd be if we didn't have you guys" Quinn added giving hugs too "And thank you for doing all this" she looked around the pink adorned baby room

"Sorry but we've got to get off to the soup kitchen, you know how it is" Mercy told them looking at Artie stood beside her

"Oh gosh yeah" Her Dad looked at his watch moving off fast Mercy, Artie, and Jennifer following with JJ's hand in hers

They walked into the familiar hall half an hour later, laden with presents, smiling at the familiar faces, it was like Christmas had really started as the smell of freshly baked mince pies and hot chocolate came to their noses "Sam" Mercy smiled as their eyes met "You guys are always full of surprises" she walked towards him fast "Great to see you"

"You too" he looked at his friend she was straight up and down when he left her last year, but now she'd got curves forming, breasts popping out and she might not of noticed it but she had a bit of a sexy walk going on "You look... different" he took some of the presents in her hand off her before hugging her, they stood for a while speaking quietly to each other before Sam said hello to the rest of the family

"Remember Artie, he sings in the choir" she turned to him smiling "Artie remember Sam" was all she offered

"Yeah, hi Artie" Sam held his free hand out for fist bumping

"Sam" he half smiled, this guy was a definite threat to his happiness with Mercy, he gasped as he watched Mercy grab Sam's arm and walked off with him, as soon as he realised what was happening he followed them

"Quinn and Finn had the baby yesterday" Mercy told Sam

"They did?" he asked surprised "Are they the same age as us?"

"Yeah, I told them to be careful but..." Mercy shrugged her shoulders

"I wouldn't want anything like that to happen to me" Sam frowned

"Me neither" Artie butted in

"Angel, that's what they've called her, she's beautiful, she looks more like Finn than Quinn" Mercy carried on

"I can't wait to see them, where are they?" he looked around the room

"They're staying at ours, their parents are not in agreement and they've been living at ours ever since"

"My Dad would beat the crap out of me" Sam laughed

"I'd be dead, too much mess" Artie added still walking behind them

"So where's your Dad and Stevie?" Mercy asked

"Right here" Daniel smiled at her looking up at him in shock "Mercy, nice to see you" he hugged her

"Mercy" Stevie smiled, he was a solid 8 year old now, looking like a podgy version of his Dad although they claimed he was the spit of his Mom, quickly hugging her "Where's JJ?"

"Over there" she pointed over to her parents, knowing that once JJ saw him he'd be excited, Stevie was one of the few people outside of the family JJ got excited about seeing

"You two are on dinner duties again" Millie the organiser looked at Mercy and Sam "And you, I heard you have a beautiful voice so you can do the singing" she told Artie spinning round to go fire more orders

"What am I going to sing?" Artie looked at Mercy asking

"Sing your signature song, it's slow but your voice makes up for it" she told him "You can do it Artie" she let go of Sam and rested her hand on his shoulder as she spoke, he felt like he'd won something for a minute "Let's get this over with and then you can come and meet the new baby" she quickly turned back to Sam and grabbed his arm again, he seemed comfortable with her hung off it

After they'd finished serving dinner Sam had taken to playing Christmas charades acting out songs while the children guessed them, his family had brought sweets this year, lots of tins of sweets, and were giving them out as prizes for all sorts of things, it seemed like the task was for every family to leave with a tin of sweets for Christmas. They were a great tag team, Sam mimed the songs, Artie sang them once they'd guessed right and Mercy handed out the prizes,

Artie went off to sing a repeat of **'Last Christmas' by James TW** for the children, adding a few more child friendly songs to his medley to get them joining in before closing with a fast song nearly half an hour later

"Come on children" Sue finally called relieving the children from her son's endless singing "Story time" she sat with everyone gathered around her legs as she read the time old story **'A Visit from St. Nicholas' By Clement Clarke Moore ****_"Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse..."_**

Eventually the three hours were up, the clearing up had been done and they were free to go do their own thing "You didn't tell me you'd opened the big house" Daniel laughed as he stood with Jennifer and James admiring the outside of the main house "It looks magnificent"

"No more squeezing into one bedroom for you guys you can have one each if you want, there are four bedrooms in the east wing" James bragged

"That wings bigger than any house I've ever owned" Daniel laughed "I don't suppose those two will want to be split up though" he looked at JJ and Stevie deep in conversation "I'm yet to understand their communication"

"I won't even bother" Jennifer looked at them smiling, JJ wasn't even interested in being attached to her, she was free for the time they were there

"I'm taking Sam to go meet the baby" Mercy announced skipping through the house with Sam and Artie following her "Oh" she stopped remembering they had a baby now "I guess we need to knock from now on" she tapped the door and stood waiting "Look who it is" she smiled at Finn stood in the doorway

"Dude" he offered his fist while pulling him to close "Great to see you, come meet Angel"

"That's what I'm here for" Sam laughed stepping inside the house he was so familiar with

He met baby Angel, they sat around talking, singing hymns and eating, Artie sat watching Sam ad Mercy passing glances at each other seething, until his Mom turned up to collect him, Sam and Mercy left Finn and Quinn to it and went back to the main house for a catch up, it had been a year

**25th December **

"Happy Christmas" Sam smiled at Mercy for the 6th time, Artie watching them closely as Finn and Quinn looked over their daughter

"Happy Christmas" she smiled

"Mercy Sweetheart" her Dad called as she hit the couch "Sorry but will you open, one of your presents before dinner" he sat holding JJ back

"Of course" she smiled watching JJ being him "Sam" she handed him a present along with everyone else and picked one up for herself everyone sat opening their gifts "A mobile" she screeched

"I have one too" Sam smiled "Thank you Mr J" he looked at Mercy "Now we can talk whenever we want"

"Photo" Mercy called holding the camera up "You know the drill"

"Christmas" everyone closed in shouting

"Dinner time" Jennifer told everyone, they all went to the dining room ""James will you bless the table?" she asked linking hands with Sue

Everyone sat around the table, James got up his usual smile "This Christmas sees welcome additions to our family" he smiled "As well as Finn, Quinn, Angel, Daniel, Sam and Stevie, we welcome Artie, Sue and Michael into our family, may this always feel the same to you as it does to us right now, home" he smiled "So will you say the family grace please Michael?" James asked looking around the table set for 13


	3. That's Christmas To Me

**A Day To Call Christmas**

**That's Christmas To Me **

**19 Years old**

**Flashback **

**14 Years old **

It had been a fun filled year for everyone, of course Angel was the centre of attention everything was logged; the first time she kept her eyes open for more than a minute, first smiled, giggled, sitting up, rolling over, name it, it was caught on camera by someone, the day she started crawling there was a near party. It was coming up to her first birthday, Finn and Quinn had decided they would wait until her birthday and do the Christening so everyone was hastily preparing for it, speeches, songs, dresses, gowns, hair make up everything, the whole church was treating it as a main event, they knew it was because their parents weren't around to help, but they were still grateful.

Everything except the actual christening gown was pink, Quinn didn't have the heart to tell them she played with anything and everything so she left them to it hoping Angel would vomit or scream at all the fluffiness in the room. At nearly 1 year old Angel looked like a female version of her Daddy, her dark shoulder length hair, was the exact colouring of her Dad's hair, but when she turned around there was no denying her Mommy's innocent look, mix with her Dad's sparkling brown eyes and a signature infectious smile, she got all the attention she needed with that smile. She was walking around the furniture a lot now and she'd taken a few steps a few days ago but nothing since, she'd obviously worked out they'd expect her to do a lot more of that once she started and gave it up as a bad choice

Finn and Quinn had gone back to school, Mrs Crumpton; one of the Sunday school teachers and a trusted friend of the Jones' was the registered Nanny and had taken Angel in on a half price basis, the family led Finn and Quinn to believe it was for free. They were doing alright, life wasn't as they'd expected it, they'd both tried visiting their parents with Angel but it didn't go down well, Finn learned his Mom was seeing someone and that really didn't go down well with him. She'd moved to another church now, so she didn't have to have anything to do with any of them, she didn't even speak to Jennifer anymore

Artie was a fixture for another year or so, until his Dad's contract finished, but he was really working on his Mom to turn their current home into a permanent thing, Mercy couldn't see it, but he claimed he could make that happen. He'd taken the hint now that nothing was going to happen between them and settled really well into their best friend zone, which was easy now Finn was busy with family life. Artie and Mercy did everything together, prom, lunch, sleepovers everything and they'd got real close in the process, he still had feelings for her but being close right now was enough, he'd taken his Mom's advice, they were too young to settle down now, but when the time came as far as he was concerned, she was his

But on the up side, the house had come on leaps and bounds, it seemed like Mercy's parents had made the decision to stay, there was no talk of moving on and JJ was in school and staying there for a whole day, everyone seemed content. They were talking holidays, Sam reported to her that he'd heard his Dad on the phone to her Dad talking about a stay in their neck of the woods so they were excited. Sam and her were on the phone to each other day and night, as if they didn't have anybody else's numbers to call, and to top it right off, her den was finally getting it's well deserved attention,

The Christening, Angel's birthday and Christmas came and went without a hitch, so the dust was finally settling, all the excitement of the new baby, Christmas and everything else had died down and everyone was back to normal, Mercy came in from school one afternoon doing her usual thing, Artie and her would grab a sandwich and fly over to Quinn and Finn's to sit with Angel, now Mercy and Sam's Godchild, while they got an hour or so together before everyone went for dinner at the big house and then free time for Artie and her. They both loved singing so that was their usual thing when they got together; writing lyrics and singing their random Christian songs

**16 Years Old**

Everyone noticed Finn's mood changing it wasn't something that happened gradually, it was an overnight thing "Mercy" Quinn half smiled at her walking into the kitchen before she burst out crying "Something's wrong with Finn, I don't know what it is but something's wrong, will you speak to him find out"

"Quinn I don't want to get involved in you guys, I told you this in the beginning" Mercy was still basking in the news that she'd become the lead singer in the church choir, she really didn't need this

"I just need to know what's going wrong so I can fix it"

"I'll ask" Mercy rolled her eyes at her, she knew Finn hadn't told Quinn anything about the way he was feeling, had been feeling all his life, she'd told him so many times festering it up was going to do some damage, and here he was now going through that damage

"Thank you" Quinn hugged her

After dinner that night Mercy bit the bullet and called Finn away from everyone to take a walk with her "So what's up?" he asked after they'd been walking in silence for a few minutes

"I'm worried about you" she looked at him "You don't seem happy, even when you're playing with Angel"

"I'm as happy as I can be with my fucking Mom refusing to speak to me or my child" he hissed

"Swearing now?" she looked at him shocked

"It's how I feel, I can't speak to Q about it because she's going through the same thing but different"

"How is it different?"

"It's obvious, she wasn't the cause of her parents break up, her Dad decided he was gay, it's clearly not about her is it, whereas my Dad left because of me, I was too much, and I didn't understand it then but Mercy I understand it now" he looked at her frightened for actually saying that out loud

"What do you mean?" she stopped walking to get this clear "What are you saying Finn?"

"The most horrible thing in the world" he looked into her eyes before bursting into tears "It's not what I want, not with Quinn anyway"

"Finn" she gasped, she needed a second to take in what he was saying "You love her, you told me you did, that wasn't a lie was it?"

"It wasn't a lie back then, but everyone was right, we were too young, don't get me twisted I love Angel to the bone, but this life isn't what I want, I can't deal with it"

"If only it were that easy" Mercy stood looking at him

"Angel I know" he rolled his eyes "I truly don't want her to have the kind of life I had"

"So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know, this stuff with our parents isn't helping, it's like being rejected all over again, I can't …" he broke down crying

"Finn" Mercy grabbed him around his waist, she was much too short to grab his shoulder "It's everything you feel for your Mom and maybe even Quinn's Dad, you don't know where to throw it so you're leaving it at Quinn's door, and that's not fair because she's hurting too"

"Are you serious?" he lifted his head giggling "When all else fails psycho babble"

"Well it got you smiling" she giggled "And for a second it made sense" she laughed

"I urge you to follow that singing dream because psychology it not your way to go" he laughed

"Promise me just one thing" she looked at him laughing

"What?" he stopped laughing to look at her

"If ever you feel down again don't bottle it up talk about it, to me, Quinn, Mom, Dad anyone, just don't keep it in"

"I'll try" he promised

The next day there was a marked difference in his mood, Quinn was smiling again, Finn was over playing with Angel the house was as noisy as it ever was. At times Mercy was concerned for how over the top he'd be, but she put that down to him trying his best to keep his sprits up and he was talking to her regularly. They'd had a good four months of happy everything seemed to be going swimmingly, church was in preparation for Christmas again, and then one bomb after the other came falling down

"I can't believe they didn't listen to me" Artie sat with his head in his hands

"I told you it was a tall order" Mercy laughed

"Don't laugh, I'm upset"

"Oh Artie sorry" she sat beside him hugging him at seeing the tears falling down his face

"I know you thought we were only ever going to be friends but I had a brilliant life mapped out for us" he looked at her seriously telling her

"Artie I..."

"I know you said we could only be friends, and I see that you're on your phone to Sam every waking second..."

"There's nothing going on between Sam and I" she told him

"You two can carry on telling yourselves that"

"It's true, we're friends from the beginning honestly"

"Remember I predicted it" he pointed in her face "I guess I just want you to be happy, so whoever you pick better do that or I'll be back for them, that's a promise" he nudged her kissing her cheek lightly as he got up to get to the car "Bye Mercy"

"Bye Artie" she smiled, she was forever losing friends, she got up feeling alone again, Finn and Quinn was taken up with his family, Artie had gone, Sam was miles away in Texas, she wanted to cry for herself but instead she did what she always did and got her phone out to message Sam

'Friend orphan calling anyone who wants to be a friend' she wrote with a smiling face

'Can we be twin orphans' he sent back with a smiling face

'Please' she send a frown face

'I guess this means I get more attention at last' he sent back with two laughing faces

'Lucky us' she sent back smiling as she wrote it

'See you in two weeks' he wrote

Christmas came and went as it usually did, Quinn and Finn focusing on Angel while Sam and Mercy made use of all their spare time between the church and the soup kitchen, walking around the grounds talking and laughing

**18 Years Old **

It was a chilly afternoon which wasn't normal so she should have known as she walked back home that something was brewing "Mercy" she jerked out of her thoughts to be faces with Quinn and Angel in front of her

"Q" she smiled bending down to speak to Angel "I need more pics her Godfather was asking about her again last night" she took her phone out to take pictures "Where are you guys going?"

"Finn's suggested we have a movie night and sent me out for snacks"

"Sent you out for snacks, there are plenty at home" she told her puzzled

"You know how he can be sometimes about always calling on your parents" Quinn laughed, he'd got himself a little job in a garage and was bringing in funds enough to treat his family and put some aside for their own place

"He's always called on my parents and he knows they don't mind" Mercy's mind was doing overtime at this point, she took her phone out and called Finn "He's not answering, how long ago did you leave the house?"

"It's taken us about twenty minutes to get here why?" Quinn asked

"Just a conversation we had when we were little" Mercy told her "But we need to get back" she spun Quinn around and started walking quickly back towards the house, making a call as she walked "Mom will you go check on Finn please, something's not adding up and I... will you check on him please?" she asked before closing the call "How have you guys been?" she asked Quinn

"We've been fine, he said he wanted to talk this morning but we didn't he just decided on this movie instead" she looked at Mercy suspiciously "What's going on?"

"Hopefully it's me being silly"

"What do you think's up?" Quinn asked her trying to understand what was going on

"Let's just get back before he does something stupid" Mercy told her walking even faster

"What's going on?" Quinn asked getting anxious

"He's a bit depressed Q, I just worry for him sometimes" she smiled at her Mom's message telling her he was fine "He's fine" she told Quinn, relaxing their pace

"Mercy had me all in a panic talking about you being depressed, what's she talking about?" Quinn asked him as soon as she opened the door

"Mercy's maybe a bit lonely with her new best friend gone" Finn turned smiling but Mercy could tell he wasn't happy for her sharing that with Quinn "You can come join us for movie and snacks if you want" he looked at her

"No, I'm fine" she smiled sheepishly

"Oh I insist" He jumped up telling her "Put your mind at ease" he grabbed her around the waist pulling her around "All my favourite people in one place" she looked at him he was in a funny mood

They spent the evening as he'd said watching a movie, Angel fell asleep in his lap and he put her to bed, he came out strumming Sam's spare guitar playing a family tune "To what do we owe this pleasure" Mercy asked smiling

"You guys know I've been thinking about Mom for a while now, I think I need to let it go you know, just let it all go, I'd like to think it possible" he carried on playing the melody on the guitar "But I doubt we'll see it in this life time" he looked down at the guitar "Sing if you recognise the song" he smiled "To our so called parents" he turned around and started really strumming the guitar before he started singing **'If The World Was Ending' by JP Saxe & Julia Michaels** "**_I was distracted, and in traffic, I didn't feel it, when the earthquake happened, but it really got me thinking, were you out drinking, w__ere you in the living room, chilling watching television, i_****_t's been a year now, think I've figured out how, how to let you go and let communication die out..."_**

Mercy and Quinn joined in on the chorus **"__But if the world was ending, you'd come over right, you'd come over and you'd stay the night, w__ould you love me for the hell of it, all our fears would be irrelevant...…. __If the world was ending you'd come over right, right? if the world was ending, you'd come over right, right?" __**

Quinn took the next verse, she was truly feeling the song, it was about real abandonment and they'd had nearly two years of that feeling **"****_I tried to imagine, your reaction, it didn't scare me when the earthquake happened, but it really got me thinking, that night we went drinking, stumbled in the house, and didn't make it past the kitchen, ah it's been a year now, think I've figured out how, how to think about you without it ripping my heart out..."_**

Mercy sat watching them singing the last chorus, it was heartfelt, she'd never known this pain she couldn't relate, this was for them, Quinn was stood next to him by the time the song finished, they looked into each others eyes asking the question hoping for the answer they wanted but it seemed they knew they were never going to get it

_**"You'd come over right, you'd come over, you'd come over, you'd come over right, i**__**f the world was ending, y**__**ou'd come over right"**_

"I love you guys" he looked at the guitar smiling "You always had my back from day one" he looked at Mercy grinning "And you gave me Angel" he looked at Quinn smiling

"I love you back Sappy" Mercy smiled

"And you know I love you" Quinn hugged him as she spoke

"I guess that's my cue" Mercy giggled getting up and waving as she left

The next day Mercy woke up to screaming, apparently her initial feeling was right, he'd taken a load of pills before bed and ended his life just like that, Quinn was distort, that was to be expected, Mercy was totally broken, she had so many feelings running through her, betrayal, anger, helplessness, hurt, guilt, loss, nothing her parents did was right, she wasn't even answering Sam's messages after she'd told him that morning. That night Quinn and her sat down and she told her about Finn's battle against himself his feelings towards his parents, his guilt, anger, feelings of rejection, the fact that his Mom didn't accept Angel and her, sealing his suspicions of how deep his Mom's hatred for him actually was, she didn't mention the doubts he'd had about them, she didn't think that was the time.

It was the end of November when he passed, a hole three days later his Mother turned up at Mercy's house "I need to see my Granddaughter" she told Jennifer

"Carol" Jennifer stood in the door shocked "It's been three days since I told you about Finn"

"I was out the country" she snapped "Where's my Granddaughter?"

"I'll have to call Quinn" Jennifer told her grabbing her phone as Mercy ran down the stairs shocked to see her at the door

"Mrs Hudson, sorry for your loss" she told her even though she really didn't mean it, not to her anyway, this woman was the cause of all of it, but that wasn't her business to discuss

"Mercy" she squeezed out, you could tell she'd been crying, Mercy wanted to ask what for

"Can I help you?" Quinn stormed to the door asking

"I came to see my Granddaughter" Carol told her

"Angel has no grandparents" Quinn replied

"If that's the case my son has no child" Carol told her, turned and walked away

"Are you sure about this Quinn?" Jennifer asked

"If I let her in now Finn's death will be for nothing, her rejection of us all killed him, and now he's gone and left his beautiful baby with no father, she wants to come in and play Grandma, I'll kill us both before I let that happen" she was crying by the time she finished talking

"Calm down" Jennifer hugged her, Mercy stood feeling helpless

There was a battle over the funeral as you'd expect, Carol wanted things done at her church, while Quinn wanted things done at the church their child had been blessed in, that Finn had grown up in, that had accepted them for who they were and ensured their survival these past 5 years, eventually James got involved and it was agreed that the service would be done at Finn's church while the burial would be at Carol's chosen destination

A week before Angel's 5th birthday and they were walking behind a coffin burying her Dad, it was a tearful event, everyone in black, Quinn making sure Carol didn't get a look in on Angel "Sam" Mercy gasped at seeing him walk into the church, she was at a funeral but inside she'd lit up, he wasn't Finn but he'd very fast become her best friend these days with Finn engrossed in his family

"Sam" Quinn shot up and ran into his arms, he looked at Mercy shocked before wrapping his arm around his friends girl

"Hi" he mouthed to Mercy, he'd arrived because she wasn't taking any of his calls again

"Hi" she mouthed back a ping of jealousy in her heart for watching them together

The ceremony happened, everyone was crying, Quinn clinging so tightly to Sam's arm he couldn't move, Mercy and he just kept throwing looks, Mercy, Artie and Jennifer led the choir in a beautiful rendition of **'How Great Thou Art' by Pentatonix & Jennifer Hudson**, before they went across town to some crematory Finn's Mom had booked, Quinn was the last to leave the graveside, Mercy and Sam took charge of Angel

The evening ended with everyone sitting in Mercy's den, Quinn eventually went to put Angel down when she fell asleep leaving Sam and Mercy to themselves for a minute "Why weren't you answering my messages?" he asked quickly moving over to sit in the couch she was sat in

"It's just been such a horrible time"

"I was worried, thought something had happened, I called the house and got no answer either, I didn't know what I was going to find"

"I'm happier for seeing you" she smiled at him

"And I'm happy you're alright" he smiled "I know Finn was your best friend, but you're mine, I don't know what I'd have done if anything happened to you"

"Will you stay till Christmas?" she looked up at him her eyes begging

"I suppose I could, I don't have anything else to do but Dad would need to bring Stevie down early, if he's not still working"

"JJ would enjoy that"

"What are you two whispering about?" Quinn came back into the room asking

"I was just telling Sam what happened" Mercy lied

"I feel so alone" she sat between them as she spoke, he went to say something but Mercy stopped him, that Christmas of course Quinn and Angel were the centre of attention again

**End of Flashback **

**22nd December **

**19 Years Old**

Sam, Finn and Mercy had spent every Christmas together since they were 10 years old but this one was going to be different, Finn seemed more missing this year than he was last, Quinn was trying to make things up with her Dad, Artie was going off to England on some gap year in the hope of dashing all his Mom's influences, Mercy was going off to do religious studies & Management in Washington DC while Sam was pursuing his dream and attending music school in New York as a side line to his Accountancy Degree, they were all going to be at the far ends of the world from each other, so they'd decided to make this one count.

The den was finally finished, not because her Dad was on a go slow, but because after he'd finished it a couple of years ago, she'd changed her mind and decided she wanted a basement apartment instead. So basically it was moving her bedroom downstairs adding a bathroom, living room and small kitchen, but that wasn't where she stopped she wanted a small studio to practice her church singing during the week, music system and a TV on the wall for her gaming, it seemed she had no intention of leaving home.

Artie and his family had made the trip back to LA for Christmas because his Dad was checking on business there, of course Artie had got in touch with Mercy as soon as he knew it was happening and made sure they were invited to stay with her and her family for the holidays. Jennifer had already won them over, they were more than happy to join the family away from family that had shown them such a good time for four years. Sam was coming up early this year, there last conversation was left hanging, there was a funny atmosphere between them they needed to sort out

"Mercy" Quinn came running into her living room from her bedroom with her phone in her hand "My Dad wants to see me" she held the phone for her friend to see the message

"That's great news" Mercy's eyes left her phone to look at her friend "Are you going to bring Angel?"

"No not this time, I need to see what he's got to say first"

"When are you going?"

"He said as soon as I can" she looked at the message again

"Don't build your hopes up Q"

"I'm...I've just being trying for this olive branch for ages it's... I can smell it you know?"

"I know and I am pleased for you, do you need me to come with you?"

"You could drive me there"

"Done" Mercy got up "Mom's got Angel?"

"Yeah" Quinn replied following her out the door

Less than an hour later they were standing outside the house Quinn hadn't been back inside since she was 13 years old "Knock the damn door" Mercy shouted across the road from the car

"I will, I am" she turned to tell her before turning back to the closed door, shutting her eyes and knocking the door "Dad" she didn't know whether to smile or cry, his face looked like death itself "What's wrong?"

"Come in" he told her moving out the way for her to get in "It's Daddy Clint" he looked at her

"Daddy Clint?" she looked at him puzzled she hadn't heard from the man since about a month after he'd walked out of their lives "What about him?"

"He died" her Dad told her clearly upset

"I thought you two had split up"

"We did, but we still had you didn't we?"

"Sorry Dad but you haven't had me since I was 13 years old, and Clint even longer" she snapped

"Never the less, your the only daughter he ever had"

"He showed it" she laughed sarcastically

"He stopped seeing you because I asked him to, it was too painful for me to keep seeing him all the while"

"I should have guessed" she rolled her eyes at this pathetic excuse for a Dad she had "No thought as to how I would feel about him leaving?"

"Anyway the reason I called you was because of this" he handed her a letter

"What's this?" she looked up at him asking

"I went to the reading of his will, and that was there for you" he smiled "He loved you very much"

"Was that it?" she asked wondering why he'd thought it was important to pass this bit of paper on, but not have anything to do with her or Angel for the past 6 years

"No" he looked into her eyes "I wanted to see you, apologise for not being there for you and Angel"

"And Finn"

"And Finn, for all of you, I've been pig headed acting like you weren't all I had good in this world, and now I just feel responsible for everything" he flopped on the chair behind him "I'm sorry"

"Sorry?" Quinn asked

"I know it's such a small word for the way I feel and what I want to say" he looked up at her "But I regret everything"

"It was never going to be this easy, you know me" she smiled "I'll wait for another invite" she turned to leave the house

"Will you and Angel come over for Christmas dinner?" he called after her asking

"No" she smiled "Angel has a family we spend our holidays with, but I'm sure you can come to us" she'd never seen her Dad so vulnerable, he'd never lied to her, led her to believe he had a reason to lie even. She knew it had taken him a lot to actually make the call and now to be inviting her to dinner, he was trying so she needed to try too, there was no way she was going to sit and get as depressed at Finn did about this situation "If you want to"

"Of course I want to, I want to meet my Granddaughter"

"We still go to the shelter on Christmas Eve" she told him "It's a tradition"

"Maybe I could join in your tradition, that was always Clint's thing" he smiled

"Maybe" she smiled before walking out the door

"What did he want" Mercy asked as she got back in the car

"Apparently Dad Clint left me a letter when he passed" she waved the letter as she spoke "Dad said he stopped him seeing me, and all this time I thought he just got on with his life"

"So what does it say?" Mercy asked as she started up the car "Open it"

"I am" she fidgeted with the envelop before taking it out "Looks official" she widened her eyes at Mercy before paying it attention "Stop the car" she screamed, Mercy slammed the breaks on so hard they nearly went through the windscreen "He's only gone and left me a freaking house" she threw the letter at Mercy giggling "A freaking house" she said again waiting for it to sink in

"A house" Mercy giggled "Which means you're leaving" she frowned "I got used to you two always being around"

"Oh I invited him for Christmas and to the soup kitchen" she stopped to tell her friend "And I might move out the house but I'll be there every day, you know I can't cook to save my own life" she laughed

"True" Mercy giggled "But I'm truly happy for you, I just wish..."

"I know, so do I" they took a pause to think of someone they both loved "Come on I imagine Angel giving Nanny Jen hell right now"

"I imagine Nanny Jen giving Angel hell right now" Mercy laughed starting up the car, the ride home was Quinn reminiscing about the time she'd spent with her Dad, Mercy was happy to sit and listen, it was about time the girl started to heal some scares "Oh Artie's arrived" she smiled at seeing his car on the drive

"I didn't know they were coming" Quinn smiled jumping out the car faster than usual, Mercy sat wondering what was going on with the girl she was jumping at everyone "Artie" she smiled with her arms open as his face peeped through the front door

"Q" he smiled taking her hug as he looked at Mercy getting out her car smiling "Hi" he mouthed smiling at the girl he'd been in love with for the longest time, quickly leaving Quinn to go hug her "I miss you" he whispered in her ear

"I miss you too" she stroked his hair "Come on lets go to my den" she linked his arm and walked into the house

"It's finally finished?" he asked laughing

"Finally" she giggled "You gonna sing for us at church this Christmas?"

"Of course" he looked at her like she was swearing at him

They got down to her den, she spent time taking him around, showing off her space while Quinn sat reading a book to Angel "Put some music on I'll get you something to eat" she told Artie as she went off to her mini kitchen, she was in there singing her heart out to a classic **'While We're Young' by Jhene Aiko **

"Hey" Quinn smiled at seeing Sam walk through the door

"Shh" he put his hand over his lips telling her to be quiet, he wanted to surprise Mercy, plus she was singing something that wasn't church, he'd never heard her do that before, he went and stood leaning on the beam watching her getting into her feels on to the song her body moving in a way he wasn't used to seeing it move

_Baby while we're young we should just have fun, we should just do whatever we want_  
_ And tell everyone that we fell in love with each other, ooh that we found the one in one another_

This holiday was going to be hard, he'd got feelings for her, he'd spoken to his Dad about it several times, first it was they were too young, then the distance thing, then it was the parents thing and now his latest reason was the study thing. Yes they were going to be at the far ends of the country from each other, but to him he felt like that was the perfect reason he had to tell her how he felt, if she should go to college and fall in love with someone else never knowing how he felt about her he'd never forgive himself but worse still he'd never forgive his Dad. He joined in singing the song with her, she sprung round shocked before a smile formed on her face as she watched him walking towards her, he grabbed her hand, flung his arm around her waist and started moving her around the small kitchen to the song

_I'm telling everybody you're mine and I like it, and I really hope you don't mind, I can't fight it  
__No, you know I cannot hide it 'cause I am so excited, that I finally decided on you…._

"When did you start singing anything but hymns and Christmas songs?" he asked laughing when they stopped singing and let the music play out

"I've always loved singing" she smiled at him "I'm glad you're here"

"And I'm glad you're here" he stood looking at her lips "Promise me this will always be our thing"

"What dancing in the kitchen?"

"And, Christmas together" he laughed "No matter what we're doing or who we're doing it with, this time of year and this place will always be ours"

"You ask a lot Sam Evans" she leaned her head to look at him

"You demand a lot Mercy Jones"

"I promise" she smiled knowing that to be true, nearly every girl he'd ever said was interested in him, she'd want a picture, and just by looking at her she'd have something negative to say about the girl as a reason he shouldn't even go there, thing was, she was generally right

_Cause it's been another perfect day with ya (perfect day) wanna lay with ya (wanna lay)  
__ Spend the night with ya, spend my life with you, alright, you know I'm down to ride..._

"Hey can anyone else join that party?" Artie shouted across the room

"No" Sam shouted back, giggling at Mercy playfully tapping his chest in protest, the next track stopped abruptly and the mood was killed, the rest of the night they caught up, laughed, drank and sang away Quinn and Mercy finally went to sleep in Mercy's bed with Angel while Sam and Artie took a couch each

Sam lay smiling to himself, he'd totally gone against what he knew his Dads advice would be on the Mercy situation, he knew he was about to upset the apple cart, he wanted something to happen for them and right now he didn't even feel scared about it "Every Christmas" he grinned to himself humming the song he'd heard playing, that now seemed to make sense of what he was feeling

_Uh, baby while we're young we should just have fun, we should just do whatever we want_  
_And tell everyone that we fell in love with each other, ooh that we found the one in one another_

**23rd December **

"Come on guys" Mercy went around pushing them off the couch "Shopping day"

"We can order it all in" Artie told her

"You want to try telling that to my Dad?" Mercy asked

"I'm up" Sam moaned still laying down with his eyes closed

"Sam" Mercy giggled watching Quinn knock him

"Mercy" his head popped up, as she got to him his hand swung out and pulled her onto the couch "You should come in, it's warm in here"

"You're warm alright" she rolled her eyes

"You should know guys can't just get up like that, give us a minute" Artie told her

"Uncle Sam" Angel ran into the room getting everyone's attention

"Hey" his eyes fully opened to pay her attention "I missed you too" he grabbed her with this spare hand as she got to him and pulled her onto the couch too "Shopping?" he looked at Mercy smiling at her watching his lips, and then her eyes widening as he sat up and the blanket dropped to his waist revealing his naked torso.

Within the hour everyone was washed, dressed, fed and in the car ready for shopping, there was the usual last minute things, presents before they hopped over to church in the afternoon to practice before they did their traditional carol sing early evening back at the mall, Mercy singing her rendition of **'One Wish For Christmas' by Whitney Houston **before they went home to wrap presents

"Art help me with these please" Quinn asked him as they got out the car laden with bags and boxes, Sam stood collecting Mercy's load before they went their separate ways

**Quinn & Artie **

"Art" Quinn turned to him before she opened the door to the garden house "You do know that Sam's totally into Mercy don't you?"

"I guess I see that sometimes"

"And my guess is she's into him too, she freaking swoons every time they see each other, they're always giving looks it's kind of obvious" she shuffled through the door dropping the bags on the couch

"She told me she's not into boys" he threw his on the couch to join hers

"When she was 13 maybe, but she's nearly 20 years old now, women change" Quinn laughed

"I'm fine with it, she's a good friend, they both are"

"Drink?" she asked walking towards the kitchen "And then we can start wrapping"

"Yeah, did I volunteer for that?" he laughed

"You just said yeah, right?"

"Right" he rolled his eyes before sitting on the couch "I suppose we're keeping each other company this holiday"

"I guess we are" she came over with his glass of juice and sat next to him before putting it on the coffee table "Come on let's wrap"

**Mercy & Sam**

"It feels strange without Finn doesn't it?" Sam asked as he held the door open for Mercy to walk in

"Hell of a strange" she walked into the den looking at the blankets thrown across the couch and dirty cups on the coffee table "I forgot about this"

"We'll get it done" Sam threw the bags on the couch, put some music on and started moving things "Grab that end" he threw the blanket at her, they stood in silence folding blankets and walked around picking up cups and toys "I'll wash up" he walked into the kitchen where she was "I wanted to get you on your own, I need to talk actually" he looked at her with worry in his eyes

"What's up?" she asked concerned

"This is totally going against everything my Dad's advised me to do, but I think I need to say it"

"Sam, what's wrong?"

"Nothings wrong, everything's right for me actually, I know you probably see me as a relative after all these years, I get that our parents might disapprove because of that, I understand that there's going to be a lot of distance between us for a few years, and lastly but most importantly, I know you might not feel the same but..."

"You're scaring me" she stood looking at him puzzled

"I want you to be happy Mercy"

"I want you to be happy too" she stood wondering "Are you saying this is our last Christmas?"

"No" he laughed "Whatever it is I'm trying to say, I'm saying it badly" his hand rubbed the back of his head "I... I want to ask you to see beyond all the obstacles people are going to throw our way and be my girlfriend"

"What happened to Emma or whatever her name was?"

"You know what her name was" he laughed "And you also know you blew her off because her name had three M's in it"

"Who calls their child Emma Edmonds, it shouldn't be allowed" she laughed

"So?" he stepped closer to her "Will you be my girlfriend?"

"I'd love to be your girlfriend" she smiled up at him, her eyes quickly focusing on his lips "Can I kiss you?" she looked up into his eyes asking

"Please" he smiled moving closer to her, his eyes closed, he'd read somewhere that men's feelings were generally vocalised through physical touch, but he was feeling something now and they hadn't touched yet, something was taking over his body, he was focused but disorientated at the same time, he felt the tingle of their lips touch, the heat of their breath hitting between them bouncing back on his face. He opened his mouth expectantly, suddenly he knew this person, doing this was what was missing in his life, he'd arrived, filled with multiple emotions, he got lost in the truth this kiss was confirming for him, he didn't let up until he heard her moan "Sorry" he pulled away slightly knowing he'd been too rough

"I like it" she told him pulling him back to taste his lips again, she'd dreamt it many times, even enacted it, danced about it, but this was it and she was savouring it to store in her mind forever, she didn't know how long this would last before he realised he'd made the biggest mistake, but if she could get this holiday she was taking it. She'd watched the films, even been on YouTube to see how it was done step by step, and for those individuals their stuff might have worked, but with feelings involved this was taking on a life of it's own, she was in feet first

Suddenly they were thinking nothing but feeling everything "Fuck" they both let go of each other lips and gasped at the same time

"That good?" he laughed

"That good" she nodded laughing

**24th December**

"Morning" Artie smiled at Quinn just as her eyes opened "We went in hard last night"

"Yeah, morning, sorry" she lifted her head off his chest smiling "I wet your top" she looked at the dribble she'd left on his chest

"That's fine I have more tops" he watched her sit up "I enjoyed last night, getting to know you better and stuff"

"So did I" she smiled kissing his cheek "Now get out of here before Angel wakes up and thinks she's got a new Daddy for Christmas"

"Yep" he laughed "See you at breakfast" he marched off towards the door

"I was wondering where you'd got to" Sam looked up at Mercy coming in from the kitchen "Morning"

"Morning, I can't believe we fell asleep on the couch" she walked towards him with two hot drinks in her hand

"We've been asleep for what" he looked at his phone "Two hours"

"And it's nearly time for breakfast, you know what today is"

"I know what today is" he sat up smiling at her "Come here" he held his hand out for her to grab "It's the first day of the rest of our lives, I don't mean to ever let go of you, you know that right?" he pulled her to sit on his lap

"But you do know it's going to be hard?"

"You don't know you want it until you've had to fight for it" he picked his drink up and took a sip

"You're right, I know that but can we keep this to ourselves for just a while longer?"

Reason?"

"This is the first real year since Finn and I just feel like us announcing stuff is like we're forgetting him, silly I know but I just..." she watched him drinking his coffee

"It's fine, we don't have to tell anyone anything, I miss him too"

Thank you" she smiled "Come on lets grab breakfast before everyone gets suspicious" she jumped off his lap and grabbed her coffee to take with her "I'll see you at breakfast" she walked around the couch to get back to him to take a kiss

"Breakfast" he smiled watching her walk off to her bedroom before he finished his drink and got up to make his move

"Morning" he smiled at Artie walking across the hall towards the stairs with the same clothes as yesterday on as he emerged from the den in his

"Morning" Artie smiled without breaking his stride

They had breakfast, sharing looks all morning before making their way to the soup kitchen to do their duties, Sam and Artie focusing on the children's games this year while Quinn and Mercy were serving, they all sang **'That's Christmas To Me' by Pentatonix** until it was time for the story

"Story time" Quinn shouted across the room holding the familiar book up laughing as the children scurried across the room to the quiet corner "Ready?" she looked around the small group demanding silence as she read **'A Visit from St. Nicholas' By Clement Clarke Moore** **_"Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse..."_**

It was soon time to leave, these three hours were getting shorter, the evening went as usual, everyone getting ready for the following day and saying goodnight to retire to their rooms

"Goodnight" Sam called laughing to Artie as he watched him sneaking out the back door to get to Quinn's garden house well after everyone had gone to bed

"Goodnight" Artie smiled at Sam stood at the top of the stairs to Mercy's den, watching him go down before he closed the door quietly

**25th December **

"Will you guys please come and open a present so we can get some peace" James called as Mercy and Quinn passed the living room door

"One present" Quinn smiled at Angel stood encouraging JJ to become a child again

"It's tradition" JJ laughed

"You got me there Bro" Mercy laughed grabbing a present for Quinn and one for herself, while Stevie, JJ and Angel zoned in on what they wanted to open, Sam and Artie joining in as soon as they came through the door and saw what was going on

"Dinner's ready" Jennifer shouted through the house, everyone scampering off to the dining room "Just in time" they heard her say wondering who was joining them now

"Dad you made it" Quinn smiled at seeing him come through the door

"Happy Christmas sweetheart, everyone" he looked around the room as everyone responded

Everyone sat around the table, James got up his usual smile "This Christmas sees welcome additions to our family" he smiled "As well as Daniel, Sam and Stevie, Quinn, Angel, Artie, Sue and Michael we welcome Spencer into our family, may this always feel the same to you as it does to us right now, home" he smiled "So will you say the family grace please Spencer?" James asked looking around the table set for 14


	4. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays

**A Day To Call Christmas**

**Merry Christmas Happy Holiday**

**24 Years Old**

**22nd December **

It was the end of an era for all of them, time to get to the real work, college had finished, the holidays were starting, and they'd arranged to meet at Quinn's to celebrate before the holiday regime started and shortly after real life hit them.

"Hi" Quinn smiled, seeing Artie standing in arrivals with his case in hand like a lost child, "Come here" she giggled at the sheepish look he gave her

"You're still my best friend, how do you do that?" he asked hugging her

"I left a lasting impression" she giggled

"You did that" he kissed her cheek, turning to get to her waiting car, "Am I the first back?"

"Yep" she laughed "Considering you were the furthest away, everyone should be here by lunch, Mercy and Sam are hitting base first"

_**Flashback **_

_**19 Years Old**_

Quinn and Artie had tried to get things off the ground for them that Christmas before he went off to college, everything was set, the mood was there, Angel was asleep, the drinks were on the table, music playing and they were ready. They did all the usual stuff, conversations, laughter, flirting, and then that moment presented itself, you know the one where your looking into each others eyes and all you can hear is your heart beat, their lips touched, they kissed, for a while and broke away laughing

"Sorry, that was nothing like I expected" Artie wiped his mouth as he spoke "I feel like I just kissed my best friend"

"I know, you did" she giggled "I guess we can put that to bed"

"Damn" he hit the cushion "I was sure I felt something"

"Maybe it was for Mercy"

"No, if you're in the friend zone, you can guarantee she in sister zone" he laughed "I guess my soul mate is yet to produce themselves" he shrugged his shoulder at her "Another drink?" he got up with their glasses asking, and just like that, life for them got back to normal, that was the beginning and the end of their short lived relationship

Two days after that Christmas, Sam and Mercy had gone off to plug one of Sam's songs at the local studio, leaving, Artie's parents, theirs and Quinn's Dad preparing dinner over wine and free talk at home. Artie, Quinn and Angel were playing house in the garden house, Angel had got her giant play house out and they'd been invited to tea, which was cold water and biscuits made of pressed bread, Quinn had just converted to Barbie, while Artie was Bob the Builder with bits of plastic sticking out of his trouser waist, when the door knocked

"Are you expecting anyone?" he asked

"No" she looked out, dragging the wig off her head to go see who it was "What do you want?" her voice angry

Artie quickly made his way to the door "Is everything alright Q"

"Moved on already?" the woman huffed

"I guess you're Finn's Mother" Artie smiled "I've heard so much about you, all bad I'm afraid" she was the enemy, he was going all in "If you don't mind we're in the middle of a game"

"I need to speak to Quinn"

"That's fine" Artie smiled turning to Quinn as he spoke, "But before you go painting people with brushes they don't deserve, Finn's the only guys she's ever been with, to this day, she's a good Mother, and she doesn't deserve all this hate you're throwing"

"I don't hate her..."

"Well you have a very funny way of showing that" Artie told her

"Mommy" Angel ran towards them "Tea's ready, come on" she pulled at her dress

"Oh" Carol held her chest at getting her first proper look at her Granddaughter, "She looks like Finn" she looked up at Quinn teary eyed

"Daddy?" Angel looked at her Mommy asking

"May I?" Carol looked at Quinn again before looking back down at Angel"

"Angel sweetheart" Quinn went down to her daughter's level to speak to her "This is Grandma Hudson, Daddy's Mommy"

"Grandma Hudson" she looked up at the woman stood there "Grandma" she smiled running to her and hugging her legs

"Lucky for you she doesn't understand hate, rejection, pain" Quinn hissed at Carol "If it wasn't for you, Finn..."

"Quinn" Artie butted in "This isn't about you, Finn or Carol, it's about Angel" he looked down at the little girl still excited for meeting another Grandma "She's six years old and already had to deal with a lot, we don't know how that's going to scar her growing up, all we can do for her now, is make sure what she remembers from us is good stuff"

"When did you become so..?"

"I spent a lot of time with Mercy while you guys were together" he giggled

"It shows" Carol and Quinn said at the same time, smiling at each other for knowing Mercy so well

Artie somehow helped them through that difficult time, they had to build a relationship for the sake of Angel, for Quinn and him that was the beginning of a friendship none of them quite understood, it felt as if they were co-parenting and living together, yet at times they were thousands of miles apart.

**21 Years Old**

End of school happened, everyone had gone off to do their own thing, meeting up for holidays, Quinn was the only one doing something local she finished her first year at extension class getting top grades in English literature and language, and now she'd taken to writing a no jargon book to help young parents through the struggle of being pregnant, tackling rejection, depression and responsibility. She'd finally gone to look at the house Clint had left her, a beautiful log type cabin by the lake, with neighbours over two miles away, she'd brought herself a car with the money she'd earned at James' construction firm. Angel was 8 and loved her three sets of Grandparents, she took it in turns staying with them, that worked well for Quinn she could get on with her book and every fourth weekend they'd do something special together

Artie had been her definite rock, it had been a few rough years for Quinn, what with building a relationship with her Dad again, moving out into the world totally alone with Angel, and Finn's Mom making an entry into their lives. She felt that she had to be true to Finn to prove to them, they'd been right for each other, she was constantly fretted about bringing someone new into Angel's life, depressed, she'd call Artie crying for loneliness and heartbreak most nights

Mercy had taken up extension classes in music to add to her Business and Management, Sam had told her she was good at it, got her an audition at a good college and she shocked herself when she got a place. It took her a while to sing songs outside her usual religious genre, but once she got over the initial shock, she found it therapeutic, and the more she sang the more confident she got, now she was singing mainstream songs at the drop of a hat.

Sam and Mercy had done well, they'd finally got baptised, he'd gone back to University and aced his accountancy degree while mastering a few instruments and made no secret of the fact that his voice and guitar were his favourite pastimes, he was busy writing lyrics, having generated interest with his first song, and getting himself some on the ground accounting experience wherever he could. It helped that Mercy's Dad had his own business and regularly found work for him between writing songs and semesters. Their relationship was slow burning, it got so frustrating sometimes they'd end up arguing or plain ignoring each other, for two years they'd played this do what you want, if you dare, game.

There came a time when they were both secretly scared, for where it was all leading "Mercy" he huffed down the phone fed up with this cycle they'd got themselves into "I think we should..."

"Mercy you coming?" he heard a guys voice in the background

"Who was that?" he asked ready to climb through the phone

"Nobody, what were you saying?"

"I was asking who that was" his voice telling her he expected an answer

"Nobody, just a guy from my class, we're in the same study group and he's walking me to class"

"Walking you to class?"

"Yeah, what's the matter with that?" she asked concern in her voice "I hope you're not thinking what I think you're thinking"

"What am I thinking?" he asked trying to make his voice sound playful but failing miserably

"Sam Evans" she cut the phone off on him

He really did know better, again he'd done the opposite of what he intended. Not wanting things to fester, he made the call to apologies "Mercy, I'm sorry, I'm just jealous I guess" he chuckled "We need to talk this holiday"

"Okay" she replied "I really have got study group, can I call you tomorrow"

"Okay bye, I... I miss you"

"I miss you too...Bye"

He sat looking at the phone wondering why they couldn't just say what they meant to each other

Two days before Christmas and everyone was in town staying at Quinn's place, leaving the parents at Mercy's. After a quick breakfast they went to join the rest of their families at the mall for the usual shopping for last minute stock, they were super busy today collecting the soup kitchen presents too. Angel was playing the actual angel in the nativity play they were putting on with the carol singing they were doing later that evening, they were all hyped about it, everyone except Angel that was, who didn't think it was a big deal. Artie had been on lines learning duty, Mercy had done the costume and Sam had help with the dramatical acting, they'd all invested in this being the first of many parts for this little superstar

So the presents were collected they'd all met up for lunch as planned and then parted again, the younger ones to go see what was happening with the choir they could get involved with and the parents to have a well earned rest before making their way to church for the special performance. They all sat on the edge of their chairs as Angel came forward smiling, filing everyone's eyes with tears as she belted out a very confident _'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord" _everyone mouthing the words as she went, clapping so loudly at her delivery it was hard to hear what followed next. The choir closed the session with an up-tempo Christmas carol before everyone went home to wrap presents.

The next day was Angel's birthday, and everyone again got involved in all of that, they'd been brave enough to let her loose at the fairground for the morning, she had them running ragged around the place, she was like the traditional bull in a china shop "Okay time to slow down" Sam finally took charge of the situation. The child had Quinn standing in line for food, Mercy in the bathroom cue, Artie standing in the line waiting for her turn on the next ride and him on his toes trying to keep her still or at least in sight "We old people need rest" he grabbed hold of her arm as she made to go in another direction

"I thought it was my day so I could do whatever I wanted?" she looked up at him asking

"It is your day, but you need to be mindful that not everyone has as much energy as you, and that the adults are always in charge" he laughed

"So it's not my day then?"

"I just need you to slow down for a second Angel, just have something to eat or something and sit still for a second"

"A second?" she looked up at him smiling

"You know what I mean" he laughed

So she had her bathroom break, ride and then stayed still for all of the ten minutes it took her to wash down the burger and fries, then they were all running after her again "Where's she going now?" Sam veered off from everyone watching her, everyone else followed a lot slower. They all finally caught up when Angel stood watching a group of carol singers doing their rendition of **'This Christmas' by Chris Brown**

"Finn" Mercy frowned remembering her friend's solo that first Christmas

"But this guys good" Sam smiled hugging her as they stood listening

"Much better" she agreed, before they started giggling at the memory becoming live when the guy hit the note Finn did very badly

"Sorry" Quinn held her hand up at the choir looking when they finished "It's a memory"

"Yeah sorry" Artie looked at the guy with the dark hair and piercing brown eyes staring at him "Sorry do I know you?" he asked him

"No" the guy smiled at him "But I'd like to" he popped at the end of it

Artie stood strangely excited by that, this was a guy and he was connecting "So would I" he heard himself telling the man "Artie" he held his hand out for shaking

"And I'm Blaine" he told him grabbing the offered hand

"Very pleased to meet you Blaine" his tone alerting the others to the fact that something was happening there

"Okay" Quinn coughed before carrying on "So I'm Quinn" she offered her hand

"Sam" he held his hand out for the guy

"And Mercy" she smiled

"And this little beauty is..." Blaine bent down to look at Angel with a smile

"Angel" she told him with the biggest smile on her face

"Are you from around these parts?" Artie asked

"Well no but I am now, I moved here about a month ago from San Francisco, got fed up of the scenery"

"I hear that" Artie smiled even wider, Mercy and Quinn shared a look at the apparent flirting going on between the two men

"Okay" Mercy clapped her hand, it sounded deafening in the clumsy silence "Are we doing this birthday thing or what?, we need to be at the shelter in less than two hours"

"Shelter" Artie repeated snapping himself out of his trance

"Shelter?" Blaine asked interested

"Yeah we help out at the local shelter every Christmas Eve, like giving back, share some food out, sing a song or two and give presents, down main street" Artie offered while everyone stood wondering why he was talking so much

"Interesting and charitable" Blaine smiled at him "How do you get involved in stuff like that?"

"Just come along" Sam butted in

"Thank you, I will if you guys don't mind"

"We don't mind at all" Artie told him "We'll be at the shelter for in 12.45"

"See you there" Blaine smiled at him, their eyes holding each other for a few more seconds than they needed to, before he turned sharply "I guess I'll see everyone there?"

"You will" Mercy laughed at the two of them

"What the hell was that?" Quinn asked when Blaine had gone

"Honestly" Artie blew out "I don't know, I've never felt that before, but I think I'm attracted to him, I must be gender blind"

""Well good for you" Quinn hugged him

"Gender blind" Sam echoed, raising his eyebrows at Mercy's shocked face

There was no one keener to get Angel's activities over and done with than Artie, and they were making sure they stretched everything out, eventually they pulled up outside the soup kitchen. They went though the side door as usual, through the hall, delivering the presents to Santa, who was always Millie's husband Cooter, before going off to get their orders

"Where do you want us?" Sam asked as he planted a kiss on Millie's cheek

"Music all of you" she shuffled them along with her hands without touching them "And keeping the children entertained, there's enough of you" she looked down at Angel before softly brushing the child's face with her hand "Hello Princess" she smiled when Angel sent her a big smile "I look at her and I remember her Father" she looked at Quinn as she spoke

"I know" Quinn smiled proudly

"Hi" they heard spinning around to see Blaine standing there "Can I join you guys?"

"Sure" Artie replied

A few minutes later everyone was in place ready to serve the people coming through the door, there were people they'd not seen for a while, people who had been grateful for the service when they were hitting hard times, and people having hard times, none of that seemed to matter for these four hours at this moment they were one big family all enjoying the celebration of life, hoping next year would meet them differently, better, stronger and even safer.

Sam, Mercy, Artie, Quinn and Blaine were singing Christmas songs for the masses and playing games in between, this year Sam's family were handing out ice creams and milkshakes, trying to get some Christmas feels going on

"I want to sing a song for Finn" Artie announced as he finished a rather challenging game of twister

"Anything for a break, I'm getting my ass whipped here" Sam laughed at the 11 year old winning him at the game of chess

"I thought **'Here' by Lukas Graham, **do you guys know it?" Artie asked

"Yeah" Sam and Blaine answered at the same time, quickly smiling at each other

"Start us off" Sam told Mercy, the music started and Quinn and Mercy started them off

_**Quinn " Mercy**: Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh_

_**Artie:** Every year around this time, I start to think about you, we're really gonna have another Christmas Eve without you, I can't believe it's been so long_  
_Everyday finds a way to make me think about you, like today when we were picking out the tree without you, I can't believe it's been so long_

_**Sam, Blaine & Artie: **Oh, we miss you like hell, all the stories that you'd tell, about the boat that you built, but never got to sail_  
_I don't know whether I should cry or I should smile through my tears, but if you were here we would_

_**All: **Sail that boat into the red horizon, those years lost, I'd tell you all about them, gone don't always mean that you disappear_  
_Cause inside all of us you're still here_

Artie and Quinn holding hands as he wiped a tear from her eye, Sam hugging Mercy, it was emotional to do and watch, but they got through it

_**Blaine:** Another year has passed and now it's time for buying presents, I even got you one forgetting you're not gonna get it, I can't believe it's been so long_  
_This time around we'll try to smile cause we're sick of tears, most days are easy now, but it gets hard this time of year, I can't believe you're really gone_

_**Artie, Blaine & Sam: **Oh, we miss you like hell, all the stories that you'd tell, about the boat that you built, but never got to sail_  
_I don't know whether I should cry or I should smile through my tears, but if you were here we would_

_**All:** Sail that boat into the red horizon, those years lost, I'd tell you all about them, gone don't always mean that you disappear_  
_Cause inside all of us you're still, wild and free, I've got so many memories, soon time too will take it all of them from me_  
_Gone don't always mean that you disappear, cause inside all of us you're still here_

_**Mercy & Quinn:** Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh_

_**Sam: **When it's dark and it's cold, everyone is coming home, I just wish you could know that's when we're missing you the most_  
_I don't know whether I should cry or I should smile through my tears, but if you were here we would_

_**All: **Sail that boat into the red horizon, those years lost, I'd tell you all about them, gone don't always mean that you disappear_  
_'Cause inside all of us you're still, wild and free, I've got so many memories, soon time too will take it all of them from me_  
_Gone don't always mean that you disappear, cause inside all of us you're still here_

"That was so fitting" Quinn looked at Artie smiling "Thank you"

"Blaine" a voice got all their attention "Times up, come on" the dark bearded, deep brown eyed man told him

"Coming" he waved, turning back to them "That's my big brother Elliott, we're going home for the holidays" he told Artie "But I'd like to keep in touch, if you want to?"

"I want to" Artie held his chest telling him as he handed him his phone to put his number in

"Call me anytime, tonight, tomorrow even" Blaine laughed hugging him

"Blaine" the voice shouted again

"Sorry got to go" he waved at everyone else as he walked away, only having eyes for Artie

"Nice guy" Mercy smiled hugging Artie

"Really nice guy" he agreed

"Story time" Carol smiled taking her turn "Come on children gather round" she sat on the chair in the story corner waiting for them all to settle down to read **'A Visit from St. Nicholas' By Clement Clarke Moore ****"Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse..."**

The clean up happened and they went home to finish doing their last bits of preparation, of course everyone was going to Mercy's parents for Christmas. They were 21 now and Artie was well and truly leading everyone astray on the alcohol trail, they were drinking bucks fizz for breakfast. Quinn went to put Angel to bed, Artie was still talking her ear off about Blaine and Sam and Mercy finally got some time alone

"Alone at last" he huffed flopping on the couch beside her

"It was Angel's day we couldn't not..."

"I don't mean anything by it... Just, I asked if we could talk this holiday"

"Oh yeah" she turned to look at him "What's up?"

"Nothing and everything really, I don't..." he looked up in the air as his hand went to the back of his head to calm the nerves "I'm not saying anything is wrong with where we are, you and me I mean" he huffed "It's been 2 years since we started going out, and we've said we like each other, fancy each other, have feelings, strong feelings even, but we've never...I guess I sing it better" he got up to collect his guitar from by the front door

"You're going to sing to me" she smiled

"Yeah" he laughed before he started singing **'What Have I Done' by Dermot Kennedy** _**"Woke up this morning, light poured in, you're with me, I thought I'd be better off alone, now, my soul has been torn and reborn, started breathing, what have I done? what have I done? I never thought I needed saving, I was right where I should be, good God, I know it's dangerous, but it's you that I need, I'm in love this time, I'm in love this time, what have I done? what have I done?..." **_"Am I making sense?"

"Of course, I love you too Sam, but you know how our life is right now, anything could happen, you could meet..."

"That's not where this conversations going" he stopped her, rolling his eyes "I love you Mercy and not in a friend way, or because I want to say it first, but for real, it's the way I feel, basically all the time, I need for us to be public I don't want to hide in rooms kissing, taking calls in private all the time, I want everyone to know, we're not doing anything wrong"

"I think..." she rolled her eyes "No I know we communicate better face to face" she smiled "I'm happy you're ready for public" she smiled, pulling his face to her, to kiss his lips lightly

"You're not getting away with that" he pulled her back to him, and kissed her deeper

"At last" Quinn laughed as Artie and her walked back into the room "I thought you two were going to be openly secret forever"

"We came out on the same day" Artie laughed

They didn't say anything just went back to kissing "We'll announce it tomorrow?" Mercy suggested "And that song, needs to be heard"

"Sure and sure" he giggled, kissing her again

The next day they announced their relationship to everyone, frowning when everyone told them they weren't hiding it as good as they thought they were, but happy they were free to be who they were to each other now

**23 Years Old **

The announcement had changed the game for Sam and Mercy, their relationship had relaxed, they didn't feel like they had a dirty little secret anymore, and somehow they felt in letting everyone know they'd made some sort of commitment, things were good. That summer they'd more than made each other aware of their true feelings, when they weren't at bible class, choir practice, church or study groups, they were spending more of their free time alone together, they were sat snuggled up on the couch in Mercy's den watching re-runs of Greenleaf when she looked up at him smiling

"I'm still falling in love with you Sam Evans" she told him, it took his breath, it felt so good he was taken aback, he held his heart to stop it from jumping out of his chest

"I'm in love with you too Mercy Jones" he smiled down at her, feeling relief for where they were just now "Please don't ever do anything to break my heart, I guess right now I'd literally die"

"Ditto" she eased up to grab his lips "You do realised we might be the oldest virgins of our generation, don't you?"

"I guess I can live with that" he laughed

"Well if you can"

"I don't really know about can, I.. I mean, we will, because we promised God and our parents we would wait" he frowned "But what I do know, is that we're going to have the most fun about breaking it" he smiled pulling her to him for a kiss

"Promises, Promises" she giggled

"Your Dad offered me a permanent job in accounts when I finish Uni, what do you think?"

"I think it's up to you what you do" she got up "What does your Dad think?" he watched her walk over to the kitchen

"He says it's up to me too"

"I heard them talking about getting a construction firm together, a few months ago, do you think that might be their plan?" she asked making drinks

"Together, where?"

"I didn't stand and listen to details"

"It would make more sense for us to come here"

"Why?"

"Because it would maybe be too much for JJ to up sticks, we know how he is about new things"

"That's true" he walked towards her smiling "This is our place" he laughed grabbing her around her waist and swinging her around "I have the makings of another song" he laughed before he started singing **'I Just Do' by Guordan Banks & Cosmic Caviar  
**

**_If I don't have you then I don't have nothing at all, nothing is perfect but baby, I love all of your flaws_**  
**_ Yes, we have highs and we have lows, there's nothing too hard when you're involved, I'm certain you know_**  
**_ I don't need a reason to love you, to love you, to love you, baby, I just do, baby, I just do_**  
**_ I don't need a reason to love you, to love you, to love you, baby, I just do, baby, I just do..._**

"Sounds really good?" she smiled proudly, tending to the drinks when they finished dancing

"Work in progress" he told her "I have plans for us, I see the house, picket fence, family dog, children the lot" he laughed

"I want three children, but none of this every five years stuff Dad's always talking about, I want them like bang, bang, bang and get it over with"

"You want to bang our children out?" he giggled

"If I get to have a preference, banging would be good" she giggled

"I'm actually scared on the child front if I'm honest"

"Parenthood's a big deal" she told him walking over to the couch "Are we planning a future?"

"I want to, I mean we're finishing Uni in three months"

"So?" she sat down and looked at him

"What do you say, we start planning a wedding in Summer?"

"I wouldn't know, I haven't been asked" she giggled

"I just asked" he laughed

"That was not it Sam Evans" she giggled louder

There were big things going on for Artie and Blaine too, apparently they'd clicked on that first meet up, who would have known it, that first Christmas they were on the phone for most of the day, just four days after Christmas Blaine was back in town, they were totally in each others pockets, everyone knew by the new years eve party that things had moved swiftly ahead for them

**Blaine's Story **

Elliott was nearly 7 years older than Blaine and had always kept him under his wing, it was protection when he was little but as they grew up he'd been a proper brother, always wanting to know about his life, encouraging him to do and be better, so when he told him he thought he was gay at the age of 13 there was nothing but support. They'd kept it to themselves for years, Elliott got married when he was 22 it was a lovely affair and the girl; Brittany, was lovely, after some difficulties they'd had the twins Elle and Tania at 25 years old, and they were a happy family.

Their parents were very well to do, they lived in a mini mansion up in Maryland, with so much going on around the grounds they were never alone at home. Santana and her family had been neighbours and visitors since Blaine could remember, she was a spoilt brat as a child, he remembered her screaming at every opportunity if she didn't get what she wanted and as a teenager the screams had turned into rebellion, they actually hated each other.

Of all the things to happen on his 19th birthday, his Dad announced that they'd got his life partner all worked out for him and after college he'd be marrying Santana, he couldn't think of anything worse, not just because he knew he was gay but because she was one of the most annoying people he'd ever known. He sat around having a horrible time of the next 3 years. Then Elliott announced he was moving to LA with Brittany and their 4 years old, and he saw his way out, he talked his brother into agreeing for him to stay for a while, until he'd sorted something out, telling his parents he was gay the day after his exam results came out

"Over my dead body" his Dad shouted across the table, Blaine looked at his brother for help but he was busy moving the children and his wife out the line of fire, and seconds later he was sat with his parents alone

"If that's the way it's going to be" he shocked himself with his response

"You do this and you'll be dead to me, you won't get a penny and you'll never come back to this house"

"What?" Shelby, his Mother gasped, looking between the two of them "Sorry Rod but that's never going to happen, Blaine's my son"

"He's our son, but he can't do this"

"Do what?" she stood up asking "Be who he is, so you'd rather he live a lie for the rest of his life?"

"No but..."

"We don't always get what we want Rod, and you don't get to choose your damn children" she huffed "If he's going so am I, it's your call"

"Maybe I was being a bit brash with that comment" he looked from one to the other "But I don't want you to go through those kind of difficulties in life" he looked at Blaine, his eyes sad

"Dad" he huffed "Do you think I asked to be this way?"

"I'm not that naïve" he smiled "But it's all very new to us" he looked at his wife "To me, so could you not throw it in my face for a while, give me some time to get used to it"

After that the subject wasn't really spoken of again, it was just something everyone knew, the following Christmas he'd been at his Brother's when they'd had the call saying they needed to get home, only to find out their Mother was ill, and now this next Christmas they were making plans to have their first Christmas without their Mom. He'd just met Artie, and tried to get out of it, but Elliott didn't let him win, by the end of the holidays, he'd already promised himself, he was going to spend every holiday from now on with Artie in LA, his life was planned

**End of Blaine's Story **

It was clear Quinn was lonely, she'd sit watching Sam and Mercy or Artie and Blaine all loved up and yes she had Angel to cuddle up to, but that wasn't the same as having someone to cuddle her back and have adult conversations with.

"What's the matter" Sam walked into her living room on afternoon, seeing her crying on the couch

"Nothing, I'm feeling sorry for myself" Quinn sat up quickly and wiped her eyes dry "I guess I'm missing Finn"

"We all miss him but I guess it's always there for you" he sat next to her

"Angle's 10 years old, scary but she'll be grown soon, and then I'll be sat here still alone, still trying to please Carol, still miserable"

"Who says you have to live a lonely life?" he looked at her surprised

"I just feel like Carol's watching me all the while"

"We were 19 when Finn passed, no one in their right minds would expect anyone to live the rest of their lives alone, even Finn"

"I sometimes wonder what Finn would think if I did"

"As long as they treat you both right, I don't think he'd mind" he hugged her "And if he didn't, he'd have Artie, Mercy and me to deal with"

"I guess" she smiled up at him "You know there was a mad second, right after Finn passed, I thought about me and you being together"

"You were always a friend to me Quinn, but..."

"I know, and I love that you two got together, you're my favourite pairing" she giggled "I love you both so much, and I'm so grateful to have you as my best friends, family even"

"And we're grateful to have you too" he kissed her forehead and hugged her tighter "You do what you need to do to be happy, everyone else will have to fall in"

"Thanks" she cuddled into his hug "By next Christmas I plan on being a couple with an eligible single man" she giggled

"Good for you"

JJ was 19 years old and going off to college too, so that was another totally new slant on things for everyone, they were so used to him being around the house, Jennifer's life had centred around him and his needs, then one day he announced he was going to Texas to go to college to study computers with Stevie. The only shock in all of it was that he was willing to move to Texas, he'd always been a geek around electrical stuff, had it inbuilt in his brain to understand that stuff from an early age, he was about to learn the students a thing or two for a few years.

Stevie and he were like twin brothers, they did everything together, if they weren't standing in the same room they were figuring out something electrical over the internet. JJ seemed to speak in a language only Stevie could understand, they'd sit laughing at jokes each other were telling that no one else had an inkling about, unless Stevie decided to interpret. They were super secretive and everyone knew they were up to no good with their decision but if they wanted to be lads, who was going to stop them.

Just before JJ went off to live in Texas, Daniel and James sat the two lads down and read them the act about girls, study, drugs and all that stuff that comes with student life, of course they told them everything they wanted to hear in response, whatever their plan was the parents or even the siblings were never going to know.

**End of Flashback **

**23rd December **

Everyone was home, Quinn's house was packed with visitors, she was happier than she'd been in a while, she'd finally dared to have the conversation with Carol about meeting someone else, and to her surprise, it was actually encouraged by the woman, they were actually beginning to be friends. She wanted someone in her life but it was a task ahead to find the right person, Angel was the most important person in all this, Quinn knew herself, if Angel didn't like them, she wasn't about to jeopardise her child's happiness for her own

"Is everyone ready, I've just had a text from Stevie, they're leaving now" Sam asked

"Ready" Blaine grabbed his coat and Artie's hand

"Ready" Angel smiled, they'd had a birthday breakfast for her, the choice this birthday was shopping so they were killing two birds with this one stone

"You would be" Mercy laughed hugging her Goddaughter "Come on" she walked towards the door, Sam shuffling everyone out

"Are Elliott and Brittany meeting us there?" Quinn asked Blaine as they got to the cars

"Yeah I just texted him"

"Full house this year" Mercy smiled

The short journey to the mall was noisy with excitement, they did the shopping and took it all back to Mercy's parents house before Mercy, Sam, Quinn, Artie and Blaine went off to church to see about their musical contribution for this years mall carol singing, of course everyone was out to support them later as they sang a jolly rendition of **'Marry Christmas, Happy Holidays' by NSYNC **before, leaving Angel with all her Grandparents at the Jones residence and dispersing to Quinn's place for a night of fun

"Now the fun begins" Quinn smiled at the release of being child free for the night "Drink anyone?" she held up bottles of brandy and whiskey

"Just pass me a straw" Artie laughed as he cranked the music up

Of course the party got way past rowdy as the drink, mixed with the company and the music all melted into one "We need a anthem" Quinn shouted smiling at the challenge

"So what kind of anthem?" Artie asked

"That's a lame game, we sing all the time" Sam told them "Truth or shot, now that's a game"

"I'll start" Mercy butted in "I'll ask Q" she pointed at her friend "Tell us one thing you have on your bucket list?"

"Bucket list?" she asked looking around "Truth, to find myself a man worthy of this"

"Good on you" Mercy smiled

"My turn" Quinn looked around the circle "Artie" she pointed at him "What would you do if you woke up tomorrow as the opposite sex?"

"Truth... Scream" he yelled "I love my man too much to ever want to be anything else" he hugged Blaine "Sam" he called "What was the last dream you had?"

"Shot, I can't share that" he laughed taking a shot "Blaine" he looked at their friend "Have you ever shared a toothbrush with anyone?"

"Truth, yeah my brother back in the day" he laughed looking around the room "I guess that leaves Mercy" he looked at her smiling "What do you like or dislike about yourself?"

"I don't dislike anything about myself, that's a truth by the way" she took as sip of her drink "And that's because I'm not willing to give away my secrets before they need to be revealed about what I like" she raised an eyebrow a the suspense left in the room, giggling at Sam's face, they carried on like that until everyone was asleep

**24th December **

As tradition would have it they shopped in the morning for the soup kitchen and in the afternoon they were at the soup kitchen sharing food, singing and playing games with the visitors they'd come to know over the years, and a few new people. They'd made punch this year for the children to feel like adults as they sipped fruit punch while the adults sipped wine, beer and other beverages, everyone got a swan shaped chocolate, compliments of the Evans family, Carol and Spenser donated money for the turkeys, as usual the presents came from the Jones annual hard work, while Elliott and Brittany donated Christmas puddings and brandy source for all, Angel had a great time playing Mommy to 6 year old Elle and Tania, Blaine's nieces

"Story time" Brittany shouted across at the children, sat on the story chair watching the excited children coming to listen to the, what was fast becoming the traditional story "Ready?" she asked before getting into the story **'A Visit from St. Nicholas' ****By Clement Clarke Moore ****_"Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse..."_**

"Mercy" Sam pulled her to one side as they stood watching the children running around while the adults cleaned up "I've decided to take that job your Dad offered, it seems like the right thing to do"

"It was always going to be up to you, but I'm happy you have"

"What do you think they'd say about us moving into the garden house together?"

"I know what I'd think" she giggled

"Can we stay at yours tonight?"

"Sure" she turned to look at him properly, something was going on for him.

They had dinner with the family, Quinn, Artie and Blaine went off to her house with Angel and Sam and Mercy stayed at her house in the garden house as he'd asked "Do you want a drink?" he asked as they walked into the living room

"Yeah, whatever you're having" she flopped onto the couch and stretched "I can't believe we got through those last 4 years"

"I can" he walked over to her with two cups of hot chocolate

"Are we not drinking?" she took the cup off him

"Not yet" he looked at his phone "Maybe midnight"

"So what's with all the mystery?"

"No mystery, I just thought we needed to reflect for a second, Dad said it's good to reflect" he smiled sitting next to her "We've been together properly since we were 19 years old, I guess I first noticed you when I was about 13" he smiled "I remember you walking towards me, saying hello that Christmas, you had tits and ass all of a sudden, I don't think I ever noticed that on anyone before that day" he laughed "I tried to think of you as a sister, or at least a relative for a while, but it didn't work I caught feelings, and I thought my Dad was going to blow a vein in his damn neck when I told him, he raged at me for about 10 minutes" he looked at her with those eyes she loved

"We know this already" she giggled "What's up?"

"I know I keep moving the goalposts"

"No sex Sam" she rolled her eyes smiling

"No, it's not that" he grabbed her hands to get her attention "You know how they keep saying at church when God puts something pressing on your heart you have to follow it?" he asked smiling

"Yeah" she looked at him suspiciously

"And we already agreed that we were totally in love with each other?"

"Come on Sam, this is painful spit it out" she giggled

"Give me a minute" he wiped the sweat off his brow down his trouser leg "I've made a decision, I hope it's for us" he grabbed her hand again "And please don't think this means anything more than what I'm asking, I remember the promises we made"

"Sam" she moaned

"Okay I …. I want us to move in together, here" he looked around the room "You'd have your bedroom, I'd take the main bedroom..."

"..Now that's how I know you're not serious" she laughed

"What do you mean?" he looked at her puzzled

"If that was ever going to happen, that main bedroom would most definitely be mine"

"So?" he let go of her hands "Is it going to happen?"

"Sam..." she giggled

"Guys" Quinn burst in with Artie and Blaine in tow "Thought we'd bring Christmas in together" she waved a bottle of champagne and glasses "Put them here" she told Artie who was carrying the rest of the glasses

Sam looked at Mercy and smiled, as they took the full glasses offered to them, they sat drinking and talking as Christmas came in, everyone falling asleep where they sat

**25th December**

"Morning" he smiled at her sleepy face looking up at him

"Morning" she smiled opening her eyes fully

"We're going to be late for JJ's present"

"Gosh" she jumped up to get dressed, it was nearing lunch time, they'd slept the morning away "Get up and get out guys" she told their friends, watching them scatter, less than an hour later everyone was standing in the living room opening a present each "Everyone" Mercy called order "Sam and I decided to move in together last night" she looked at him and grabbed his hand "In the garden house that is" she laughed as he pulled her to him and kissed her, there was lots of conversations before dinner

"Dinner's ready" Jennifer finally shouted through the house

Everyone sat around the table, James got up presenting his usual smile "This Christmas sees welcome additions to our family" he smiled "As well as Daniel, Sam and Stevie, Quinn, Angel, Artie, Spencer, and the return of Carol, Sue and Michael we welcome Blaine, Elliott, Brittany, Elle and Tania into our family, may this always feel the same to you as it does to us right now, home" he smiled "So will you say the family grace please Elliott?" James asked looking around the table set for 19

"I think we'll soon need a bigger table" Dan told everyone


	5. The Christmas Song

**A Day To Call Christmas**

**The Christmas Song **

**27 Years Old **

**Flashback **

**25 Years Old **

They'd had the conversation with both their parents it was made more than clear they didn't expect them to be having sex outside of marriage, and they were fine with that, so just after Sam's 25th birthday they moved into the garden house.

It was a tearful day when they packed an over excited JJ into Daniel's car along with Stevie and waved the two children that had been the reason everyone was so traditional about things off. The journey had been a bit traumatic for JJ, the plane ride, the unfamiliarity of everything around him and meeting new people, but Stevie had been brilliant, he'd talked him through things and got them settled into their routine quickly.

James had got his little army in tow, Sam was using his accounting skills well, making sure all the books balanced, Mercy was raking in the business and managing production lines, Quinn was more or less HR for the 30 workers as well as doing secretarial duties, Blaine was busy perusing his music career and Artie was in Germany at the minute, trying to get the contract to do a film about the fall of some former King

Love was in the air this year, Carol met this man Bert, Quinn was like a daughter to her by now, so of course she needed to have a conversation with her before she did anything, she'd collected Angel, so Carol ceased her opportunity

"Quinn" Carol's voice sounding awkward "I feel really bad after the things I said to you before" she spun her hanky around her fingers nervously smiling

"What's happened?" Quinn sat down concerned

"There's no easy way to say this" she looked in her eyes "I've met someone" she huffed relieved she'd actually got it out "Noting's happened yet, I didn't think I should without having this conversation, after everything I said to you, it's been over 18 years since I've actually had a man in my bed"

"But I thought..."

"Yes we were together but not in the bedroom, for a while before he left" she interrupted Quinn's question telling her "And I feel ready to, I know I'm old" she giggled "But I want to start dating again, feel loved, I want all of that"

"Why shouldn't you have all of that, I'm happy you feel you can" Quinn smiled hugging her "But if he doesn't treat you right he'll have me to answer to" she giggled pulling away from her "So what's he like?"

"He has two children, twins I understand, they're 26, Rachel and Kurt, very into music and drama and still at home"

"But what's he like"

"He's funny, attentive, persistent, and generous so far" she laughed "I think I could like him"

"Go for it"

"I might just" she smirked "Actually I think I will" she told her happy with her decision

"Good for you" Quinn laughed "Now do we need a drink?"

"A strong one" Carol laughed "And Quinn" she waited for her attention "You do know you don't need my blessing to carry on with your life, don't you?"

"Sure" she smiled happy with the seal of approval

So Bert was introducing Carol to, lavish dinners, theatre, even the casino a few times, things were fun, they'd moved from once or maybe twice a week to every night, then he started staying over. They finally acknowledged they had something they both needed to keep a hold of, it was time to meet the family, with it being two days to Carol's birthday, the lavish meal they'd arranged turned into her celebration

"Hi everyone" she smiled stood with Bert's hand in hers "This is Bert and his twins Rachel and Kurt" she looked at the three of them

"Hi" Jennifer got up to greet them, closely followed by the others, everyone quickly settling down to conversation and food

"What are you doing?" Mercy nudged Blaine catching him staring at that Kurt guy across the table

"Nothing" he diverted his eyes quickly looking at Artie from the side to check if he'd caught him

**Rachel & Kurt's Story**

Bert and his wife had adopted Kurt and Rachel after nearly 10 years of trying for a child themselves, Rachel and Kurt had been interested in all things theatre so the family were on the road a lot, moving from one audition to another, Rachel had been in several small parts and Kurt had been Oliver in a theatrical musical for nearly a year.

As five year olds, they sat eating bowls of cornflakes for commercials, or licking nasty marmite off jar lids like their lives depended on it, between shoots, if they had time, they'd study something but generally they were travelling, learning lines, sleeping or auditioning, as they grew up they naturally moved towards theatre, they were both good singers.

Life became busy as they moved from commercials into theatre, more auditions, competition, serious parts, they would take days off school to stand in some dingy stairwell with what felt like a thousand other children for two parts in a B rated performance, it felt like for every yes there were at least a hundred no's and their parents just kept going forward, travelling, making costumes, eating fast food

When they were 12 they remembered their Mom falling in the street as they ran for an audition, they ended up missing the audition because she was hospitalised, that was the first time they'd ever heard their Dad cry, they knew then something was wrong. She came home but she wasn't right, she was stuck in a chair unable to move half her body, dribbling all the while and unable to talk properly.

For a while everything seemed to stop, the laughing, trips, auditions, clothes everything and the house became dark, curtains always closed, no smiling. They started going to school regularly and then one day they came home and she was gone. just before the funeral their Dad sat them down and told them she'd had a stroke, it took a while for them to work out what that actually meant but they did. They became the parents as they watched their Father shrink into himself, fast becoming half the man they knew, a smile on his face only when he came to their recycles at school, they knew in those moments they were keeping their Mother alive.

They'd both gone into the arts after school, their sole aim to keep their Father alive through their love for it, they'd come to LA for two reasons, their Dad had met some woman and Kurt was in the revised version of the classic Moulin Rouge, running for the next three months, and by the look on their faces they planned on having as much fun as they could get

**End Of Rachel & Kurt's Story**

"You should join us for Christmas" Artie smiled at Rachel as he spoke, everyone looking at him in shock, they didn't even know these people, there'd been no indication from Carol that she wanted that either

"That would be great" Rachel accepted the invite for her whole family

"It would be" Blaine looked at Kurt

"I think we need to seriously think about that bigger table" James looked at Daniel smiling, the two men had become best of friend over the years, it was clear they'd got a plan "So while JJ and Stevie aren't here might we discuss what's happening for their 21st, rule out nakedly clad young ladies" he laughed rolling his eyes at the ridiculous thought

"He's happy with something complicated and colourful" Sam smiled "His gear ball is looking tired maybe we could replace it with a bogger one"

"But he's going to get his driving lessons isn't he?" Mercy asked looking from her Dad to her Mom

"Of course, but it's just going to take him a bit longer" Jennifer added "And what about Stevie?"

"He'll make do with the car" Daniel confirmed

"Sorted" James laughed "Eat up" he smiled watching the food they'd pre-ordered coming towards them

"So" Jennifer turned to Bert interrupting Carol and he's conversation "I hope you like Turkey and all the trimmings" she smiled

"I'm vegan" Rachel butted in

"Okay" Jennifer smiled "It's been a while since I did a nut roast" Mercy could tell that girl was going to irritate the hell out of her Mother

The meal ended, Quinn and Angel went off with Carol and her new family to get acquainted, Quinn had got Rachel sussed, she'd made it clear she was always going to be the only apple in her Father's eye, so Angel could disappear. Bert on the other hand, was doing the exact opposite, he'd sat talking to Angel for a while, he'd let her have her way at dinner, ordering her an extra dessert to satisfy her decisiveness and now he was sat listening to her reading her newest Rahoul Dahl extravaganza

The cute 13 year old was turning into a rather confident, chatty young lady, her face had always leaned more towards her Dad's looks than her Mothers, everyone said it, but at 13 years old you could actually see it, she was slender like her Mother, with a clumsiness likened to watching a left handed person trying to use a right handed instrument. Her body was changing too, she was becoming a woman, for want of a better word, Quinn sat looking at her across the room wondering how, now with her mother eyes, she'd thought she was ever ready for motherhood at 13 years of age, smiling at the fact that she'd managed it till now, and very well with the help of her few trusted and loved friends. "You'd be proud" she looked up in the air telling Finn

"He's so proud right now" Carol grabbed her hand, she hadn't even noticed that the woman had sat next to her "So" she looked back at Bert and Angel "what do you think?"

"If he's who you want I'm happy for you" she smiled "But that Rachel.." she looked across at the two of them perched over her sterio "She's trouble"

"I think they're both trouble, but they'll be gone in 3 months" Carol whispered before getting up to go join her Granddaughter

A week later they'd all gone to watch the opening, but it wasn't good enough to endure a second viewing, so they made as much as they could about the opening night and left the real fallout to the tabloids. Quickly it was the Sunday before Christmas and as usual Kurt had the evening off so they'd planned to meet up at Quinn's house again, everyone had brought a drink they knew how the night was going to end

"Some one sing something" Quinn announced

"Like?" Mercy asked

"We could do our song from the theatre" Rachel pipped up

"No" everyone shouted together

"That's just so wrong" Rachel hissed cutting her eyes at Mercy

"If you want to talk about it, that's fine, we'll only need to have this conversation once" Mercy stepped towards her, not happy with the look, the girls attitude was already on her last nerve

"I suggest you back up" Sam warned rolling his eyes at Mercy's diva about to be let loose on this girl

"Anybody for another drink?" Blaine asked trying to lighten the air, everyone watching him walk over to the cabinet

"Yeah" Kurt walked fast to follow him "Was she serious?" he asked him looking back at Mercy

"Deadly" Blaine laughed "She's protective of all of us" he watching Kurt dash over to Rachel obviously to tell her to behave

"The song" Artie reminded everyone

"Mercy you've been playing with something" Sam looked at her, trying to get her mind off Rachel

"No I'm not talking religious stuff" Rachel butted in again ignoring Kurt's advice, Sam rolled his eyes, this girl was trying even his patience

"She.." Sam started to explain "I'll sing" he changed it to "Actually we'll sing" he looked at Blaine and Artie "**'My Love' by J Howell **dedicated to Mercy"

"And Quinn" Artie added smiling at the both of them, Blaine smiling at the frown that had put on Rachel's face

_**Sam: **Looking in the mirror, trying to figure what to say, got your heart on a pedestal, my loves out of range_  
_Loving guaranteed, loving all your flaws, this is where I want to be, you're the only one I want_  
_Ain't nobody gonna love you better, than my love, ain't nobody gonna treat you better, and that's for sure_

_[Chorus]_  
_**Blaine, Artie & Sam: **My love, my love, it's one in a million, too good for thousands, my love _

Artie and Blaine were taking it in turns dancing with Quinn as Sam sang to Mercy, Kurt sat with his face twisted as Blaine and Artie took a second to dance before starting in on their verse

_[Verse 2]  
**Artie (Blaine & Sam): **I said nah-ooh now baby (ooh-nah baby) what you gon' do? (What you gon' do?)  
I said I love ya darlin' (I love ya darlin') I'm so true to you  
You say you want my love, you want my trust? and I'm gon' prove it baby (I'm gon' prove it baby)  
That I'm the one for you (Ayyeee), __Ain't nobody gonna love you better (better!) Than my love_  
_Ain't nobody gonna treat you better, and that's for sure_

_[Chorus]_  
_**Sam (Blaine & Artie): **My love (oooh, my love), my love (my love, my love, my love)_  
_It's one in a million (one baby), ooh, too good for thousands (toooo) my love_  
_It's one in a million, too good for thousands, my love, my love_, _it's one a million, too good for thousands, my love_

That was beautiful" Mercy smiled as Sam bent to kiss her

"Like you" he looked in her eyes smiling too

Everyone was sat drinking, having their own conversations when Artie looked across the room and screamed "What the hell are you doing?" he jumped up, left Quinn, and went across the room to where Blaine and Kurt were sitting

"I'm sorry I don't know what happened" Baine's head popped up

"Why are you kissing my boyfriend?" he asked Kurt

"He didn't say he... it was anything serious he..."

"You didn't tell him we were a committed couple?" Artie looked at Blaine with hurt in his eyes

"I'm sorry I... it's the drink" he held the glass up in his defence

"We drink nearly every weekend" Artie shouted at him "You know what fuck it, you can have him" he turned grabbed his coat and left the house

"Artie" Quinn called after him before the door banged

"We'll go after him" Mercy jumped up grabbed her jacket before Sam and her left to go after their friend

"Disappointed" Quinn turned to tell Blaine

It seemed like Blaine couldn't help himself after that, he just kept getting more involved with Kurt as the days went by.

The new table arrived curtesy of the Evans family, placed in the massive dining room, it still left some room for growth, even though it seated around 30 people. Christmas came and they all sat awkwardly at the dinner table, Kurt, not willing to be dashed aside for his lovers ex in any way, shape or form, played the game like he was on stage. New Years Eve night Sam, Mercy and Quinn decided to take Artie to the local club to cheer him up, of course Rachel tagged on, being her usual pushy self, Sam and Mercy were doing their own thing but there if needed, Quinn had sat listening to theatre chat for as long as she could before they left Artie and Rachel to their own devices

"What's this?" Mercy asked as they got back to the booth to see Rachel and Artie making out "Where's Quinn?"

"She's good, she's been on the dancefloor with some guy for the last four songs" Artie pointed in her direction

"So, is this pay back?" Sam asked him, shaking his head in disapproval

"Just fun" Artie pulled Rachel's lips back to his

"Gender neutral" Sam shook his head again, he knew his friend was hurting, they both were, but it seemed like they were both willing to take this thing to the point of no return before one of them said sorry and the other one accepted it. What was a stupid kiss a week ago, had turned into a few nights of fumble on Blaine's part, Rachel made that no secret, and neither did Kurt at dinner, and now this "Just be careful" he told him, before they went off to the bar again

"What do you think of him" Quinn rushed over to the bar pointing at the guy she'd been dancing with

"He looks like a thug" Mercy cut her eye at her girl, before laughing

"Girl it's been years I need a thug believe me" she giggled back "Might not be forever, but he's definitely for right now"

"Where's he from?" Sam asked

"Out of town, not connected to anyone we'd know, his names Puck"

"Proper thug" Mercy laughed "Who calls their child Puck?"

"Maybe a thug Dad" she laughed "But hell does he excite me" she looked over at him, with only one thing on her mind "See you guys tomorrow"

"Be careful" Sam shouted after her "I'm happy she's trying to move on"

"Well overdue" they turned back to get some attention, to make their order

So Quinn and Puck became a bit of a secret thing, Artie and Rachel were making out every chance they got and Blaine and Kurt were casual but intense, there was silence for a while and Mercy and Sam were right to be concerned at that. Because, true to form, it was all too good to be true, it all ended in one big mess when Rachel and Kurt finally left to go back home, it wasn't a heartfelt "I want to stay with you forever" or even a subtle "We were in love but it's over now" kind of departure, it was a very harsh "I have a partner back home, this could have never gone anywhere" kind of goodbye leaving both Blaine and Artie in an awkward place. Now as well as betrayal they'd also been humiliated, discarded, used and abused and somehow they had to work through all of that because they lived and worked in each others pockets still, Blaine went back to Elliott's while Artie stayed with Quinn for a while, it was a hard few months for everyone but they pushed through it

**26 Years Old**

There was a house warming party going on, Sam and Mercy had spent nearly 5 months refurnishing, redecorating, moving some of his things down from Texas, and now they were officially a stage two couple "That went well" Mercy told him, in the early hours of the morning, both nursing threatening headaches

"It was alright, I could still feel the tension between Artie and Blaine" he held his hand out for her to grab "They'll sort it, I still have faith"

"Me too" she grabbed his hand and joined him on the couch, sitting in silence for a while, "I'm dog tired, it's been a long day, I'm getting off to bed" she leaned up and kissed his lips before getting up "Goodnight"

"Goodnight" he watched her walk into her room

Mercy had been to this place many times, she was in the shower wondering what the first night with Sam was going to be like, yeah they were living together but not in the sense she'd imagined, she was happy, of course she was, this was a new chapter for them, but the way she was feeling right now, the excitement of it all, she was frightened for how long this courtship was going to carry on for, she couldn't take this much longer, the flesh was weak. She smiled as she stood remembering the first time they'd actually really touched, his arm around her waist holding her firmly as she sang in the kitchen out there, she'd seen it in his eyes back then, if she'd have been any other girl they might have even gone there that night, she closed her eyes and willed herself back there as she swayed singing** 'While We're Young' by Jhene Aiko**

"It's been a perfect life, so far" she grabbed her towel and got out the shower, maybe it was up to her to bring this thing to the next level

Sam sat smiling at his thoughts, she'd gone to bed many times before, but this past month she was in there alone there was no one to interrupt them and he knew he was going to have another rough night of it "Trust me to be in love with the only Christian girl in LA" he laughed, getting up to go to his room. He'd been in love with this girl for nearly 10 years, they'd spent every Christmas and most holidays together and now, tonight, it felt like it needed to be something new, he lay on his bed trying to get at one with his feelings, he knew he was giving in to temptation, but he wanted more than this, he wanted them to share a life, a bedroom, everything together, he lay remembering that moment they'd had in the kitchen a long while back, that song had rung true back then and was still ringing true today** 'Baby while we're young we should just have fun, we should just do whatever we want, and tell everyone that we fell in love with each other, that we found the one in one another.." **"No" he jumped up, determined to follow his heart instead of his aching, trembling body "Merc" he knocked her bedroom door lightly springing back for how quickly she answered it "I thought you might be asleep"

"No I just got out the shower" she looked up at him, feeling guilty for the thoughts she'd just been having

"I just needed to say something before we went to sleep, if you don't mind?"

"No I don't mind" she smiled stepping out of her bedroom "Is something wrong?"

"No not at all" he followed her over to the couch and sat next to her "I don't have to tell you I hope you already know, you're the perfect person for me, I hope I'm that for you too" he smiled grabbing her hand "Over the years you've become my best friend, a great advisor, to us all not just me, a teacher in honesty, love and Christian fellowship, you know I want you to be my wife and the mother of our children" he took a deep breath "I've been sitting in my room wondering what's stopping this from being our home, I mean our real home with us in the master bedroom" he smiled "Doing what I know we've both been thinking about tonight.."

"I... "

"Let me finish please Merc" he pulled her hands to him

"Okay" she smiled

"You're my most precious gift, and have been every year since we were 10 years old, and yeah I didn't actually realise it till we were like 16 or something but ... I digress" he stopped to think "I want the whole word to know about my limitless love for you" he smiled at her blush "I know" he giggled nervously "My voice is trembling and my heart is beating so damn fast" he touched his chest before grabbing her hand again "I just hope you say yes and make me the happiest man in the world, will you..." he stopped to make sure she was understanding how serious he was "Will you marry me?"

"Yes" she giggled "I want to get that over with as much as you" she held her mouth "Should I have said that?"

"Yes, I want that too" he hugged her, they lay on the couch in the living room wrapped in each other, the silence filled with thoughts of contentment, satisfaction, suddenly broken by Sam as he hummed 'I'm telling everybody you're mine and I like it (I like it) and I really hope you don't mind, I can't fight it (don't fight it)… smiling as she joined in

**"No, you know I cannot hide it 'cause I am so excited that I finally decided on you (oh yeah).."**

"I'm falling in love all over again" he looked down at her with tear filled eyes

"Every day" she reached up and kissed his lips before settling in for the night

The next day of course they made the announcement, went off to buy a ring and look at some dates, they both wanted to get hitched as quickly as possible, everyone was pleased for them, and went into shock when they announced they wanted to start a family as soon as possible after the wedding.

Three months before the wedding and everything was done, neither had big families only the church and the people from the soup kitchen and most of those were from the same place now a days. Mercy's 16 year old tradition had caught on with nearly everyone, the town had reached almost every homeless person in their vicinity, but there was still a growing homelessness issue.

Quinn and Puck were almost recluse, they very rarely went anywhere outside or Quinn's family occasions, she told them it was because Puck's cousin, was some sort of big time thug, and he didn't want her or Angel getting caught up in any of it, so, she made do with watching movies, eating at Mercy's Mom's house and his idea of clubbing, which was everyone getting together at hers or Mercy's to have a, what he termed as a blow out, which was basically everyone sitting around talking

Blaine and Artie were still in a strange place, they were talking, mainly because Mercy and Sam had put them in charge of presenting the theme of the wedding, in what now seemed like a weak attempt, to get them back together. They both had separate conversations, making out splitting up was the best thing to ever happen, and they'd moved on, quickly leading to crying about missing each other, needing to forgive, be forgiven and professing each other to be the love of thier lives, the cuts were deep, but fixable

JJ and Stevie were having a whale of a time at University, they'd fast become the popular guys and parties were happening, nothing to tell home about, Stevie was sure even Sam would have something to say about the things happening up in their dorm, needless to say just over a year at the place and none of the two of them were virgins anymore. That had been something JJ was stressing about, he didn't know how he was going to strike up and even keep a relationship going with everything going on with him, but two specific girls had happened for them, and nearly five months in, they didn't seem to be getting tired of each other

"JJ's asked for a plus one invite to the wedding" Mercy stood in the family kitchen telling her Mom

"That's good, Stevie's been helping him to make friends" they both looked at Sam walking through the door

"Stevie's just asked for a plus one invite to the wedding" he pointed at his phone indicating he'd just had the conversation

"You're brothers are making friends, I'd call that progress" Jennifer smiled widening her eyes

"So that's a definite yes" Mercy smiled at Sam "I'll just call the caters and add them on" she took his kiss "How's things with Blaine and Artie?"

"They've agreed to talk" he rolled his eyes, he'd left work and spent at least three hours talking to the two of them because Mercy and Quinn were eager to get them sorted before the wedding

A week before the wedding, everything was in that quiet phase again, Jennifer, Daniel and James were meeting up for the last check before they paid everything, Quinn, finally satisfied with her chief bridesmaid dress, had allowed it in the house, Blaine and Artie suits were ready, Angel's skimpy version of a bridesmaid dress had eventually had material added to it and had been passed by her Grandparents, and Sam and Mercy were as ready as they were ever going to be.

Two days before the wedding and everyone was sitting around waiting, Daniel and James had flown off to go collect JJ and Stevie because travelling really wasn't JJ's thing. Quinn was bringing the illusive Puck over, they'd had limited conversations with the man over the past 9 months so no one really knew that much about him, the fact that he was gracing them with his presence at the big house today was a giant step forward

"We're home" James voice echoed through the house Jennifer jumping up to go see her son for the first time in nearly four months

"Sweetheart" she burst through the door stopping in her tracks at seeing the six of them stood looking back at her, James' face the most twisted

"Yeah" Daniel disturbed the silence "This is Kitty and Marley" he looked at Jennifer wide eyed "JJ and Stevie's plus ones" he half chuckled

"Well... Welcome" Jennifer very quickly turned her surprise into happy, hugging as James and her eyes met in surprise "You guys kept these beauties quiet" she looked back at her Son and Stevie

"And don't get this twisted Mom, these are girlfriends not friends" JJ told her

"He said..." Stevie went to interpret for him

"I know what he said" Jennifer told him "Nothing wrong with having a girlfriend" she smiled at the girls, who were obviously feeling a bit out of their depth in realising their boyfriends hadn't told their parents everything "Welcome" she guided them into the sitting room and introduced them to Sam, Mercy, Angel, Blaine and Artie. A short while after that Quinn turned up with Puck in tow, he was actually quite funny and easy going, they went down to the den to get some time together once Kurt, Rachel with the rest of the adults showed up and took over the sitting room

**The Wedding Day**

**Mercy **

Considering everything was more than calm less than 24 hours ago there was chaos going on in the house now, all the lights were on in both wings, people running from room to room trying to get things sorted, Mercy and her Mom sat in total silence in the garden house, offering prayers for the day "You're about to become a woman" her Mom smiled grabbing her hand "It's exciting but scary, I know, but I want to leave you with five things to remember"

"Just five?" Mercy laughed

"One" she giggled "Always remember to love the lord first, in doing that you will be grounded, secure and free to love your husband, as you should"

"That's a bit deep"

"It get's deeper" she squeezed her hand telling her childlike 26 year old daughter "Remember next to God Sam will always be your person, even before children, parents, everyone, you'll be one"

"I know"

"We do" she brushed her daughters hair back off her face before grabbing her hand again "Communication is important, don't underestimate it, it's up there with patience, and clarity"

"We spoke about that"

"Yep, and I guess another important one, Sam's a man, he's not a superhero, but you need to respect his decisions, I guarantee he'll always have your best interest at heart"

"That's four"

"And lastly, sex, it will hurt at first, but once you get the hang of it, girl" she rolled her eyes laughing before hugging her "And okay I have a sixth" she held Mercy's shoulders and eased her away from her "I want you to have the best day, you're the most beautiful bride I've ever seen"

"I will, thank you" both their heads turned at the door opening

"Ready?" Quinn asked

"Ready" Mercy smiled "Where's Puck?"

"Puck's married with three Kids" Quinn rolled her eyes "That's for another day, it's your wedding day come on"

**Sam**

"Dad" he smiled as his Dad walked through the door with Stevie in tow

"You look..." his Dad gasped "Your Mom would be so proud" he wiped his wet eyes "I can't believe this, from where we've been" he hugged his son "You're one of the strongest people I know and you deserve this"

"I reckon Mercy's blind and your damned if you don't get there before she takes those blinkers off" Stevie joked

"Right" Sam punched at him playfully

"No seriously, you two were made for each other, I wish you the best" he hugged his brother smiling

"I know there was a reason why you were my best man, thanks bro"

"Stevie can you let us have a minute?" Daniel turned to his son smiled

"Sure" Stevie backed out the room

"What's up?" Sam asked sitting on the nearby chair

"I guess I don't have to tell you to treat your wife like your best friend, you've been doing that for what 16 years?"

"She's been my best friend for 16 years Dad"

"I know, when you came and told me you had feelings for her, I didn't think it was stupid, I guess I was being a Dad about it all, but in my heart I knew this was going to happen" he laughed to himself "Just remember to tell her you love and appreciate her every day, goes without say that you need to be faithful, you know how I am, but more over you know how Mercy is, that would be a place from which there would be no return, and last but not least, always respect her, she's hopefully going to be the mother of your children"

"Children" he frowned, he knew it was coming, but there was a conversation he needed to have with his soon to be wife about the realities of that happening, "You're not telling me anything I don't know, or don't already do Dad, I love her"

"I know you do son and that's two thirds of the battle won" he held his son's neck, pulling him to him "It's about time we had a woman join this clan"

"I won't say what it's about time you did" he smiled at his Dad moving away fast

"Come on let's get you married" his Dad laughed

The actual wedding went by like a whirlpool, one minute everything was in slow motion as Mercy walked down the isle towards him blocking everything out, all they could hear was Artie, Blaine, and Rachels voice singing their rendition of **'Forever And Ever Amen' by Travel Love & Summer Overstreet** then there was silence as they mumbled words that had no sound and kiss. Some noise came, when they got in the limo and breathed for a second, smiling at the fact that they'd done it, before they were overwhelmed by kind words, presents, watching JJ kissing Kitty, like it was the done thing, and then being dragged up to cut come cake and have a dance. They'd done it and hoped that someone had taken pictures because the day had gone in a daze, it was over much too soon

"Come and have a dance Uncle Sam" Angel dragged Sam up refusing to take no for an answer

"What's happening?" Mercy walked off leaving him to it, it seemed like Quinn was in an argument of some sort, and she could see Puck's head popping up and down like he was arguing with her, she made her way over to them "What' going on?"

"It's fine Mercy, they were just leaving" Quinn told her "This is Lauren, Puck's wife"

"Hi" Lauren smiled "Congratulations"

"Thanks" Mercy smiled before looking back at Quinn "Will you be alright?"

"Yeah, Blaine and Artie are around" she looked around the room trying to find them "Today's not the day to be worrying about me, go on" she shooed, they stood looking at each other before she walk off slowly, it was a sad moment but they both realised it wasn't them against the world anymore, Sam was it for her friend, she'd cleave to him now, just like the minister had said earlier. There was a definite smile when her friend got to her new husband and he, without breaking his conversation, lifted his arm to fit her into a place that seemed like home, when he finished he looked at her, smiled and pecked her lips, it was clear she was the centre of his world, Quinn walked off to go find her other friends, leaving Lauren and Puck to their argument, it was nothing to do with her

"Look at them" Artie smiled looking over at their just married friends

"Perfect" Blaine smiled looking too

"Like you two" Quinn told them as they all sat watching Sam and Mercy, sat looking into each others eyes

**"Cause it's been another perfect day with ya (perfect day) wanna lay with ya (wanna lay) spend the night with ya, spend my life with you, alright (alright)**, **y****ou know I'm down to ride (you know I am down to ride, you know I am down to ride)" **the newly weds sang to each other

"We get to do all of that" Sam moved in to kiss her nose telling her

"We do" she closed her eyes at the kiss

**End of Flashback**

**27 Years Old **

**23rd December**

The wedding was over, the honeymoon was had, they'd been back home and back at work for months, Blaine and Artie were being civil with each other because they were supporting Quinn with the bad relationship choice she was trying to get over, it was two days before Christmas "Sam" Artie gasped when he answered the phone "We know the honeymoon isn't over and all that, but it's been weeks since we hung out and we were wondering..."

"Of course we're going to the mall" he laughed

"So, shopping as usual?"

"You know the drill, shopping, carol singing"

"It's great to be together again" Artie laughed before the phone went dead

They did what they had to do Sam leading on this years performance with a well received version of **'The Christmas Song' by Thomas Rhett **then that night they all met up again at Jimmy's, a cosy wine bar, they were sat sipping drinks and catching up, it seemed like Artie and Blaine were in a good place, they were doing more talking than shouting at each other, and there was even a smile at one point but no one asked

"Quinn" Mercy tapped her trying to grab her attention back "Are you listening to me?" she looked in the direction the girl was looking in "Do you know him?" she turned back to ask her friend

"No, but I'm about to" she smiled at her before getting up to go over to the guy

"Is she..." Artie sat to attention with everyone else watching her do something they'd never seen her do before

"At last" Blaine smiled

"Who is he?" Sam asked

"His names Joe, I went to college with him, we bumped into him about two weeks ago and now he's asking about her, she's asking about him" he rolled his eyes "I'm just glad I'm not the middle man anymore"

They sat half talking half watching as Quinn and this Joe guy seemed to hit it off, suddenly she was up off the chair and walking back over towards them, everyone hastily started conversation again "Guys" Quinn stopped the false conversation "I want you all to meet Joe, he's just agreed to be my plus one for Christmas dinner" she smiled up at the guy

"Joe" Sam sprung up smiling "I'm Sam, pleased to meet you" he held his hand out

"And I'm Mercy" she got up offering her hand too

"You know everyone else" Quinn pointed to the empty chair she'd been sitting on for him to sit down while Artie grabbed another one from an empty table

**Joe's Story**

Unlike Blaine, Joe didn't come from a well to do family, he was very much the underdog at his school, his scholarship had been handed to him on a well deserved plate, because he was that good, it was one of the reasons Blaine and he had become friends. Joe had been brought up by his Grandparent, having been born to addicted parents, he'd seen his Mother a few times as a child, but once he got to around 7 years old she stopped coming by. He'd like to think it was because she'd decided to better her life, but the reality might be that she'd died of an overdose. His Grandma was old enough when she'd took him on, he didn't get to do all the usual things other kids his age did, she was strict, but one thing he did enjoy was playing his grandfather's old piano, it needed tuning so often they'd have been better off getting a new one, but it was sentimental.

By the time it came to college, he'd given up on it and took up the guitar, they'd got by but only by the skin of their teeth, he knew there was no money for University, they'd spent it all on him, so he was getting ready to give back to her, by getting a job, when he got home one day to be told he couldn't go in, and what seemed like hours later, his Grandma came out covered over on a stretcher, he knew what that meant, she was gone.

At 18 he was sat in a house that was much too big for him, wondering what he was going to do next, sure he only had to worry about food and bills, but at 18 years old that was enough. He was shocked when Miss Beiste approached him about a scholarship for music, it was something he'd dreamt about but never dared to think it would be a reality, he competed the forms, got the scholarship and he'd never looked back since. He'd learned early in life that he'd been given all these obstacles to cross because he was destined for tough things, the entertainment game was more than tough but he was making his way through it and right now he was hitting the high life.

He'd been with one girl when he was at school and for whatever reason he thought they were for life, they'd gone off to separate Universities claiming their love would stand the test, but by the second year she texted him the Dear John, he knew was coming, it broke his heart more than he'd care to let her know, he was just happy they couldn't see each other when it happened. After that he'd hook up with a girl every now and again, nothing serious, meaningful or long term just fun with an amicable departure, but for a while now he'd been bored with that scene and wanted something special for himself. He'd met up on Blaine out the blue, he'd been a friend at University, never judged him for being who he was or where he was coming from and always had his back when the bullies started in, so he was pleased to see him again, even more pleased to meet Quinn

**End Of Joe's Story **

**24th December **

They were all up bright and early for the soup kitchen run, Joe turned up to Quinn's delight and suddenly she was forcing a family feel on Angel, everyone got a bit edgy when that happened, but Blaine assured them Joe was level headed, top guy and if it was happening it was probably because he'd assured her enough. They all followed the usual instructions, this year the Evans family donated food hampers for everyone to take away.

"Story Time" Jennifer shouted passing the book to Bert

"What?" he looked at her shocked before looking down at the book in his hand

"You can do it" She laughed walking away, watching Bert take the seat ready to take the challenge while Carol and her stool laughing

"Okay" Bert looked at the children "Ready" he smiled nervously before he started reading **'A Visit from St. Nicholas' By Clement Clarke Moore** **_"Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse..." _**everyone laughing at Bert getting so engrossed in the story telling, even the Children were having fun

"We have an announcement" Blaine turned to their friends when Bert finished "Artie and I are giving it another go, for real this time"

"About time" Quinn dived at Artie giggling

"We've been rooting for you guys" Sam hugged Blaine

"Come on let's go celebrate" Mercy laughed walking towards the door "Oh you finally got here?" she stopped to ask Kurt and Rachel stood at the doorway

"Sorry we had an audition" Kurt offered

"Hope you get it" Sam told them "You can help with the clean up" he smiled offering Rachel a broom

"Are you two back together?" Kurt asked looking at Blaine and Artie's hands linked

"Very much so" Blaine told him, smiling at Artie as they walked off

**25th December **

"Morning" Mercy sat watching her husband wake up

"Morning" he smiled "Happy Christmas"

"Oh happy Christmas to you" she leaned in and kissed him "I've got your present" she smiled

"Are we not waiting for JJ" he looked at her smiling

"No this one's for us" she took his hand and rested it on her not yet formed baby bump

"Seriously" he jumped up at her nodding head "God this is.. the best.. I love you Mercy Evans" he jumped all over the bed before finally kneeling to kiss her "We've started"

"Yes" she giggled

"You were drinking last night" he stopped at that fact coming to his head

"Yes but not alcohol" she giggled

"Sneaky"

"Can we keep it to ourselves for the first trimester"

"Sure"

They went out opened the usual present before dinner and everyone stood listening to Rachel and Kurt singing **'White Christmas' by Michael Buble & Shania Twain **before Jennifer shouted the usual "Dinner's ready" through the house

Everyone sat around the table, James got up his usual smile "This Christmas sees welcome additions to our family" he smiled "As well as Daniel, Sam and Stevie, Quinn, Angel, Kitty, Marley, Artie, Blaine, Elliott, Brittany, Elle, Tania, Spencer, Carol, Sue and Michael we welcome back Bert, Rachel, Kurt, and welcome Joe into our family, may this always feel the same to you as it does to us right now, home" he smiled "So will you say the family grace please Joe?" James asked looking around the table set for 25


	6. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

**A Day To Call Christmas**

**Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas **

**31 Years old **

There had been a lot of change in the family over the years it had shrunk and grown, took some unforeseen turns as well as some inevitable ones, a 17 year old Angel had announced a boyfriend in the wings, everyone was anxious about it, Mercy the most she knew how much Finn would be against her doing anything like that before she was at least 19 years old, but he wasn't here right now, and Quinn and Joe were coping the best they could with the situation. Angel had really taken to Joe, they were close, she'd slipped and called him Dad a few times and although he'd been worried about it he was secretly happy she was comfortable enough to think of him being someone like that to her, it made up for all the things that hadn't gone right for them

Artie and Blaine were finally committed to each other, Artie was working in New York at the moment, directing some series Quinn had been involved in writing, and was now turning into a mini five episode series, she was excited about it. Blaine had found his way back onto the stage and was in New York himself, he was staying local while Artie was flying in and out of the City whenever he could even if it was only for a night, and they were determined to make their thing work, especially now they were thinking outside that box they'd put themselves in previously

James had been nursing a cough that seemed to be getting worse, Jennifer was worried, but he wouldn't stand still long enough for her to do anything about it, and because he didn't have any other symptoms, he wouldn't hear anything about slowing down or stopping. Daniel had been over talking about their new business venture which would help lighten the load, it had been waiting in the pipeline for a few years now, because JJ had gone to University in Texas and was staying with them, now he was free to move with Stevie grown and more or less living in LA it was a no brainer, plus Jennifer had begged him to help stop James. They were days away from finishing the new contract and becoming partners in the Engineering firm with the hope of extending the workforce from the current 45 to well over 100 making good business sense for the local community

**Flashback**

**28 Years Old **

After the first trimester Sam and Mercy announced their pending new arrival, everyone was excited even JJ had something to say about his responsibilities as an Uncle, but there was a lot more in store for the family this year, there were going to be tears and lots of them

**Blaine & Artie**

Artie and Blaine had settled into something that felt comfortable, when they'd first got back together there was lots of talk around them getting hitched, moving in together, they didn't know if that was going to be at Quinn's house or somewhere they could get more privacy, but what they did know was that Elliott's wasn't it. The girls were growing up and their friend circle was getting ever larger, and with crowd came noise, they were running around the house half naked, screaming like teenagers instead of 12 year olds, which most of them were. It didn't help that they'd just got a Den, the dreaded thing, they'd talked so much about Mercy's they wanted one and of course Elliott had never been one to say no, except to his brother.

They'd not long got back to LA, where they knew they wanted to plant roots, it was getting close to Christmas and Artie had insisted they stay traditional so Blaine had dropped everything to be there for a week. They were sitting in the estate agents waiting to be seen when Blaine got a call from a panicking Elliott

"Okay" he told him down the phone "Elliott calm down I can't hear what you're saying" he stood up as he spoke

"We need to go home now" he screamed down the phone, his tone was alien so much so it frightened Blaine

"Art we have to go, somethings wrong" he turned to him with tears already in his eyes "Where are the keys?" he searched his pocket as he walked off leaving Artie sitting

"Blaine I have them" he jumped up and took the keys out his pocket "And you're not driving"

"I don't have time to argue, just get us home" Artie could see this was serious

"What did they say?" he quickly got in the car and started the engine

"Hurry up" Blaine rushed him on

"Just try and keep calm"

"I can't keep calm, Elliott's just told me something's wrong"

"Okay we'll get there, just try and keep calm"

"If anything's wrong with the girls, I'll just die" he held his head in his hands and cried, Artie rolled his eyes, this felt serious, but Blaine could be a bit of a drama king when he wanted to be, maybe Elliott wanted to call him out again for something Brittany was offended by, that girl was forever offended. It seemed like the longest journey ever but they finally got back to the house, Artie sat watching Blaine jump out the car before it even stopped

"Elliott" he shouted before he even got to the door, Artie sat watching Elliott spring out the door and grab his brother, it wasn't threatening more desperation "What's happened?"

"It's Dad" Elliott gasped "He's gone"

"What do you mean?" he pulled away from him asking, his tone telling Elliott he didn't understand what he was saying

"He's dead Blaine"

"But... he can't be, we were talking last Thursday, he said we were alright, I told him I loved him, he wanted to come see our new home, he..."

"Blaine" Elliott shook him "He's gone, his new wife said he'd been ill for a while, he just didn't want us to know"

"Why?" he shouted "Why didn't he want us to know?"

"I don't know, but we need to go home"

"God" Blaine dived into Elliott's chest and cried like a baby, the scene looked like a tragic story ending when Elliott started crying too

When they finally let each other go, they went into flight mode, Blaine instructing Artie to pack some stuff because they didn't know how long they were going to be away, Elliott telling Brittany to get them all packed, they had less than three hours to get their flight out. As planned they were on the scheduled flight and within three hours they were back home, there was more crying, Artie found himself drawn into the loss of it all and cried a little himself for the man he'd never met. Later that evening they contacted everyone back in LA to let them know what was going on, of course everyone sent their condolences and heart felt wishes

Four days later there was a massive exodus of extended family, everyone from their LA family made it over to support Elliott, Blaine and the rest of the family at the cremation of their Father. It was a heartfelt service, there wasn't much talk about God as such, but Blaine's version of **'No Matter What' by Calum Scott **hit home with what they knew about Blaine's struggle with his family and the way he thought they'd finally come to see him

The house belonged to the two boys, but Artie didn't want to leave Blaine, and Elliott couldn't see the point in paying for a property in LA when he had a mini mansion in San Francisco, so after moving stuff around, and securing a local job, he moved back to the family home, with his family

**Quinn & Joe**

If the case had been that Puck disappeared that night after the wedding, life might have been a lot easier for Quinn, but he didn't, he came back trying to tell her she'd treated him unfairly because his relationship with Lauren was ended, and how he'd realised that night he was in love with her. For a second she wanted to believe it, in another world she lived in, Joe was being really thoughtful stepping back to allow her to make her choice, being courteous with Puck, and still trying to build a relationship with Angel and her

In the end Lauren turned up again, confirming that she'd had more than enough of the man's games, if she didn't opt out now she was going to die young of some uncurable infectious disease, and left him, with only two months left before their third child was born. He tried to camp out in her house for about a week before he got on her last nerve because he was unwilling to find work, she asked him to leave before the police were called, Joe wanted to step in around then, but she wouldn't allow it, eventually Puck left

She was happy being alone for those few months, it was nice just having time for Angel and her to just be them, her little girl was hitting her teens and she knew how confusing that could be "Mom" Angel plonked herself on the couch next to her one afternoon "I don't want you to be lonely anymore you need to make a choice"

"About?"

"I know you invested in Puck, but he's a cheat, Joe seems genuine, but Aunt Mercy said you can never be sure love will last, but you can be sure your in it when your in it"

"Did she now?"

"Yes, and I believe you want to be in love with Joe, he's totally different to Puck, I trust him" she laughed "And that's saying something"

"You do?" Quinn turned to look at her daughter properly "Are you giving me relationship advice?" she laughed

"No" she giggled "I'm telling you to follow your heart, better to have loved and lost and all that" she got up having said her piece

"Sweetheart" Quinn called after her smiling "I really like Joe"

"So do something about it" she told her walking off, Quinn sat smiling wondering how her 13 year old daughter had her head together more than her right now, she chuckled at being just as decisive herself at that age, enough for the child to be around today

She sat remembering the conversation she'd had with Finn maybe around the same age how they'd been so scared of what their parents were going to say, but so sure that they wanted to have their child together. Suddenly she was sure about what she was going to do, she got her phone out and called Joe, it was about time she did something for herself, a few days later they were out to dinner discussing her decision

Months had gone by, they were all getting on like a house on fire, he was always the gentleman, making sure she was alright, very softly spoken, never showed anger and loved them both unconditionally "Joe" Quinn looked up at him as they sat in her garden supervising Angel and her friends in the pool "I have a question to ask" she sat up and looked at him "I feel comfortable, safe, loved even, I haven't felt like this since... well it's been a long time, and I guess the last time I let it slip through my fingers, and uncontrollably out of my life, but I want to grab at this with both hands, and my heart I guess" she smiled

"You know I'm all in" Joe sat up telling her

"Just let me finish" she held her hand up stopping him from talking "I love you Joe, Angel does too" she looked at the girls playing in the pool "And I just want to ask you, do you want to do this for real?" she looked at him wondering what she'd actually asked "Sorry I'm not making my self clear" she huffed "I know it's not romantic or anything, but will you marry me?"

"What?" he gasped his eyes widening at the conversation "Can I think about it?"

"Sure" she turned away embarrassed

"Hey" he grabbed her hand smiling "I'd be honoured" he pulled her to him and kissed her letting up only when the girls started whistling at them "We're getting married" he shouted over to Angel "We're going to be a real family"

"Yes" Angel yelled slapping the water and getting excited with her friends

"As soon as possible" Quinn shouted to her

It all happened much quicker than anyone had expected, within the month everyone was gathered for what they thought was an official engagement party, a minister turned up at the venue and suddenly they were all stood in party clothes witnessing a wedding. All three went off on what they termed their after wedding holiday for a week in Paris, before retuning home and back to life, they became a tight unit it was a pleasure to watch these three naturally gel together.

For whatever reason everything was rushing for this new couple "So what do you think, I know Angel's nearly 14 but we're still young enough" Joe asked as he walked around the bedroom picking up their clothes

"I think I need to speak to Angel"

"She's cool with it" Joe told her

"So when did you guys have that conversation?" shock in her voice but a smile on her face

"A while ago" he smiled at her face already saying yes "So... what do you say?" he walked over to her grabbing her around the waist "Should we add to the brood?"

"I think I'd be up for doing Angel all over again" she flung her arms around his neck and pulled his lips to hers

"No time like the present" he pushed her to fall with him on the bed

**Sam & Mercy**

The opportunity for sex to happen had it's let downs for the newlyweds on their honeymoon, the whole journey to Turkey was full of expectation, arousal and talk but when they finally got to their beautiful cabin in the exclusive holiday resort they hit heads so hard, with the rush to get started, Mercy was knocked clean out for about five minutes, and he spent the rest of the afternoon at her hospital bedside nursing a big lump on her forehead. Then the next day, maybe because of all the trauma, her period decided it was coming more than 6 days early putting a dampener on the next four heavy days, then while they were out sightseeing, Sam lost his credit card so they had to stay in the resort for two days until a replacement came, putting everything on the tab they were grateful they'd opened when they got there.

Day 6 just two days before they were due to return home and D day presented itself, she'd woken up period free but said nothing the whole day, they hired a car and went down to Dolphin park for a stroll and to feed the dolphins. After lunch at one of the local restaurants, they stayed with the water theme they had going on, and went off to the Old Marina where they found a little cove and got talked into taking a boat trip out around the side of the island. It was on that trip she decided to tell him they had the go ahead, after his rant, they eventually got back to the resort and, amongst other things, booked a table for their evening meal, they never got there and the last two days had been spent creating their new favourite pastime

Now a very pregnant Mercy, just three weeks away from her delivery date, was reminding him of the love he supposed to have for her as he screamed at the top of his voice unwilling to go find toothpaste for her to eat "I remind you again you said you'd..." she said calmly

"I know what I said" he huffed, angry with himself for screaming and guilty of not following through on his promise "And I still say anything you need, but Mercy this is getting worse instead of better" he sat putting his trainers on

"So why are you biting my head off?"

"You're acting like... do you think this is normal?" he looked at her waiting for an answer "I brought three tubes this morning, it's 4am and I'm going out again?"

"You can ask when our child bursts into the world with nothing on it's mind except shitting in your face for not giving it what it wants"

"It that some sort of curse" he laughed "I just pictured that, it was disgusting" he got up and left the room to visit the 24/7 just 4 miles away

He couldn't help but panic at all this, there was excitement of course, but still in the back of his mind was what had happened to his Mom, it wouldn't leave him alone. He was looking out for illnesses, had countless conversations with his Dad about how he felt, what might happen, and even should she continue with the pregnancy. His Dad had told him to have the conversation with his wife, but he really didn't want to put that stress on her, so he kept it all in.

He finally made it to the shop, got what he needed and headed home "What's wrong?" he ran towards Mercy curled up on the bed "What's wrong?" he asked at her moan

"I think it's time" she told him panting the pain away

"We've got three weeks" he grabbed his phone to call their parents "Shit" he went into full panic "Everything will be alright"

"I know, what's wrong with you, we're having a baby not surgery?"

"I just... never mind" he walked across the room and grabbed the two cases with one hand before going back to grab her arm "Lean on me"

"Did you get the toothpaste?" she asked like that was the only thing that mattered right now

"Yeah" he looked at the doorway where he'd dropped it at seeing her in pain "Promise me this is going to be alright"

"Promise, not even gas and air, we agreed yeah?"

"Yeah" he smiled still nervous

"Even if I beg"

"Yeah" he laughed, knowing if she did he was going to be shouting at a few people to get it for her, Mom had told him birthing was no joke, he was about to find out how serious, and right now it really didn't feel like anything to joke about. Nearly 10 hours later and a lot of screaming from Sam, baby Storm came to them, called Storm because her delivery had been, touch and go on so many occasions she'd sent their emotions on a rollercoaster, and then her cry filled the air calming everything and everyone down.

Sam burst into tears the only emotions he had left, he was wonderfully traumatised by the whole thing "We need to do this again soon" Mercy looked down at their daughter

"What?" he gasped still getting over the heart attack he'd just had

"Real soon, I don't want to wait for years I want Storm to have siblings she can play with"

"I don't know if I can go through that again" he looked down at his beautiful baby girl, her skin dark considering her mix of heritage, they hadn't seen her eyes yet but every finger, toe and limb was in place, not that it mattered greatly but she was perfect "For this, I can go through that all over again" he smiled "We have a daughter"

"We have a Storm" Mercy corrected him "I hope she lives up to her name"

That Christmas was exciting for everyone, Quinn and Joe were planning, Mercy and Sam were nursing, Blaine and Artie were in love and to top it all Kurt and Rachel turned up again, this time Rachel had a plus one in tow, this guy called Jessie, he had these eyes which told a person they couldn't believe everything he was saying, but she seemed to be fine with it, so although at a distance they let him in. As was tradition now, they were all at the soup kitchen that Christmas Eve listening to JJ and Stevie's girlfriend's Kitty and Marley singing a commendable **'Not Just On Christmas' by Ariana Grande **before going off to their usual catch up

**29 Years old **

Time was taking it's toll on Quinn, she'd caught so easily with Angel, they weren't even trying and she'd popped into their lives from nowhere, it was frustrating that they were planning for this little one and he was refusing to come.

"Calm down" Joe rushed over to her throwing things around because her period had shown up again, even if he was frustrated about it he wasn't about to let her know that

"How can I calm down when this isn't happening for us"

"It will when the times right" he hugged her trying to reassure her "You know these things always happen when you least expect them"

"But it will happen?" she looked up at him

"The minute we stop stressing about it and let it, it's not for the want of trying is it?" he giggled

"Rabbits have nothing on us" she giggled tapping his chest "I'm back" she assured him

"Come on we're going to be late" he grabbed his jacket and waited for her to grab hers

They were heading off like everyone else to see little six month old Storm get Christened, the families had insisted she be Christened as soon as possible after her birth, if it had been left to them they would have done it at the hospital. It wasn't rushed, there was nothing to rush, the church was going to be there, the people from the soup kitchen were coming anyway after the formal introductions had been done at Christmas and their extended family attending went without say.

At the reception Sam got up and against everything they'd agreed that morning he shouted across the party "Message for the doting Grandparents" he smiled at Mercy trying to tell him to stop "Baby number two is on the way"

"Sam" she called his name sharply

"Someone's in trouble" Rachel laughed grabbing Jessie's hand, her baby bump was ready to start leaning her forward

"I don't care I want everyone to know, we have five months left"

"Amen" Daniel and Jennifer said at the same time, laughing at each other's forced strong southern accent

"Are you two sure about this?" James went towards them asking

"We want to do it all at once, no gaps, just bang, bang, bang" Sam moved his hips, implying something he shouldn't be to his father in law, watching Mercy smiling at the memory of that conversation

"Well obviously congratulations are in order" he held his arms out for his son in law to fall into "Sweetheart" he bent down to kiss his daughter "I'm happy you're happy about it"

"We are" she closed her eyes as his hand lightly brushed her face, he was genuinely happy for them

"Sam" he looked up walking away, indicating that he wanted him to follow "A word" he smiled walking until that got to the bar "I've spoken to Daniel about your fears, I think you should talk to Mercy about them, you can't keep going through that alone"

"I will, but she really wants this family, we want this family and I …. I think it's worth it"

"As long as you promise the conversation will take place before this baby is born" he pointed his finger at his son in law

"I..." he looked across at Mercy, sad that she didn't know this one thing about him "I promise" he watched James walk away from him

"What was that about?" Mercy startling him asking, his head wasn't even in the room

"What?"

"You and Dad, and please don't tell your hormonal wife it was nothing" she held her hand up at him

"Can we talk about it later?"

"Are you in trouble?"

"No" he grabbed her waist and pulled her to him "Only with you, tonight" he kissed her lips lightly "Later, enjoy the day"

"Okay" she smiled "If you're sure"

"Absolutely" he kissed her again "I love you, you know that right?"

"I know that and you know that right?"

"Know what?" he smiled

"That I love you too" she reached up and kissed him again

"No wonder we're popping babies every damn month" Blaine walked up to them smiling "We're thinking about it too, or we were until all this with Dad" he frowned "Now Artie refuses to speak about it, says he thinks I'm deflecting from my pain"

"Sorry Dude" Sam told him sincerely "He'll come round just keep chipping at it"

"I hope so, I'm so jealous but I love you way more than my jealously so congratulations" he leaned in and kissed Mercy's cheek "And you" he leaned into Sam

"Hey" Sam laughed, giving his hand in the small gap that was left "Thanks" he shook his head at the man's cheek

"Excuse me everyone" Artie knocking his glass with some cutlery as he shouted across the room "As the oldest Godfather to this beautiful baby girl" he looked at her laying in her Grandma's lap "I feel I can't let this day go by without saying something, of course I haven't prepared anything I wanted it to all come from the heart" he pulled some paper out of his breast pocket laughing

"Here we go" Blaine rolled his eyes and looked back at Mercy and Sam standing beside him

"I don't want to take up too much drinking time" he laughed showing the blank piece of paper in his hand, "I really just want to thank everyone for coming to help Sam and Mercy celebrate the gift they've been blessed with, that we've all been blessed with actually" he laughed sounding uncomfortably nervous "I'm totally honoured that two of my oldest and most dearest friends have honoured me this way. I hope I can live up to the role model they have provided me with, and pass it on to my Goddaughter, she's already as demanding as her parents so she'll get far in life. I guess I'll end with wishing her everything good in life, of course I want to shield her from everything, but I've learned you need knocks to build resilience, so instead I'll ask to be blessed with those words of wisdom when she needs them" he looked down at Storm "To Storm Evans" he raised his glass and watched everyone follow

"I'm actually proud of him" Blaine told Mercy and Sam laughing as they clapped his efforts "What the.." everyone looked around wondering what the almighty scream was about

"Rachel" Mercy rolled her eyes rushing over

"I'm..." she gasped

"Breathe" Mercy shouted at her "And you're not dying you've had one of many contractions" she told her "Calm down" she sat her down as Jessie came running across the room just a bit more panicked than Rachel was

"Please get her some help" he looked around the room like he had never been to any classes

"Get her in the car and take her to the hospital" Sam laughed at Rachel screaming again "It's not that fast"

"She's had three stillbirths before" Jessie told them, and suddenly things got serious

Daniel came from nowhere and picked her up, James was shouting orders at Jessie who was clearly in shock, the car was outside the door, everyone jumped in other cars and went in chase of the front car, her Dad looked like he was about to have an attack of some sort and Kurt was already crying

"It's happening again" Kurt looked at Blaine, his face drained of blood as they stood in the waiting room of the hospital "She doesn't deserve this"

"We'll pray" Artie told him

"Yeah right" he rolled his eyes, he'd never been much of a believer, and the fact that his sister had gone through this three times already sort of affirmed that for him

It seemed like Jessie was in there forever, they hadn't heard any news from anyone and then suddenly his head popped through the door and nodded for her Dad to come through, everyone thought the worst, Kurt cried again while they waited for news and then Jess was out again

"We've got a baby boy, he's weak and in intensive care but he's alive and they think he has a chance even though he's 9 weeks early" he giggled, the relief of the news showing clearly on his face

"Thank God" Kurt rushed towards him hugging him like there was no tomorrow "Congratulations" he kissed his cheek

"Thanks" he smiled pulling his hair off his forehead "That was intense" he blew out as he stood reliving what he'd just seen

"Isn't it, intense and beautiful" Sam agreed shaking his hand

"Absolutely"

Artie stood watching as Kurt and Jessie went around hugging and thanking everyone for their prayers and kind words, when they got to Blaine, Artie couldn't help but wonder if something was still sparking for Kurt in his partner's direction, there was something about the hug that lasted a millisecond longer than it did with anyone else "Don't even go there" Blaine whispered to him seeing the look on his face

"Are you sure?"

"Positive" he leaned to his side and kissed his boyfriend "Us against the world remember?"

"Us" Artie smiled linking arms with him

Quinn was happy for Rachel and Jessie, of course she was, but all this was just reminding her that she was failing to produce the one thing women were sent to earth to produce, it was already putting a strain on their relationship, and now to have this thrown in her face, she was feeling envious. "Congratulations" she smiled as she hugged Jessie

"Rachel told me not to mention it but" he looked at Joe "It will happen, just have faith"

"Yeah" Joe half smiled, he knew that was going to come back at some point, and it was going to be something ridiculous like everyone was laughing at her "How did Rachel know?" he asked Quinn when Jessie was gone

"She'd told me about the deaths and I.. I guess we were sharing" she shrugged her shoulders

"I didn't even know you two were friends like that" he smiled "But we're not in the same situation you know that right?"

"I know that" she smiled "And Jessie's right, it will happen"

That night, sort of finished on that high with Jessie telling everyone they named their son Harry Albert after their Fathers and with them being the only one's that were ever going to provide grandchildren for both families they'd given them the honour. Of course Bert was pleased, and wherever Harry was watching from they were sure he would have been pleased too.

Once Storm was in bed Sam and Mercy grabbed a drink and sat ready to have their long awaited conversation "So what's all this about?" Mercy sat flicking her hair off her chest "I'm anxious to hear what's going on in there"

"It's something I've spoken to my Dad about, and I guess he had a word with your Dad" he turned to look at her "I've been avoiding this conversation because I really don't know how to explain it"

"Sam you're scaring me" she moved back unsure of what was coming

"It's nothing to be scared of it's my feelings" he smiled "I've always felt like this, it's absolutely nothing to do with Storm, the baby or you"

"Just tell me"

"Okay you remember I told you how my Mom died"

"Yeah"

"Well it's caused me to have some serious anxiety issues when you're pregnant, and before you say it, I know you're not my Mom, it's the situation that bums me out"

"Isn't that normal?" she looked at him puzzled

"What do you mean?"

"Well I wanted to have all our children at once because I didn't want to wait five years and have a child with JJ's challenges, same sort of thing"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, surely when you know what's possible, if you have a choice you'll try to avoid it, and that's what we're doing isn't it?"

"But.."

"No I didn't say that, if a child like JJ comes along we'd be blessed and I know we'd love them just as much as we love Storm, but I'm still fighting for that not to be our destiny, and I don't plan on dying either" she got up and took the full cups to the kitchen, Sam sat watching her walk across the room, their baby bump just visible "Come here" she put the cups down as she called him "This is our spot remember" she grabbed his hand and pulled him into the middle of the kitchen

"I remember" he smiled grabbing her around the waist "It went something like **'****Baby while we're young, I think we should do something crazy, like say stuff everyone, and just run away from the daily routine, yeah you know what I mean..."** he rocked her as he sang the song, stopping to kiss her neck

She smiled carrying on with the song **"I'm telling everybody you're mine and I like it, and I really hope you don't mind, I can't fight it, no, you know I cannot hide it 'cause I am so excited, that I finally decided on you..."**

He joined in again as they both moved around the kitchen singing to each other **"Cause it's been another perfect day with ya, wanna lay with ya, spend the night with ya, then spend my life with ya, alright, alright, alright, yeah you heard me right, I'll go everywhere you go (I'll go everywhere you go) you know I'll go, I'll go"** they giggled

"And then you made me promise this would always be our thing, and yeah" she laughed "I know you said Christmas but the feeling I had when you wrapped your arms around me in this kitchen that first time" she rolled her eyes "Since that day, that feelings been my Christmas present"

"And mine, I just thought it was too forward to say it was you in my arms I wanted" he laughed

"So now I want you to promise me something" she looked up at him smiling at his laughing face

"Anything"

"We never be scared to talk about how we really feel to each other"

"You ask a lot Mercy Evans"

"Those vows asked a lot Sam Evans"

"Promise" he kissed her nose telling her "Come on lets sleep while Storm's sleeping"

Just after Christmas that year their chubby baby boy they called Shaw was born, he was darker skinned than Storm with black loosely curled hair, the biggest green eyes and absolutely perfect. They didn't disappoint the year after either when another baby boy they called Jaythan a total replica of Shaw brown loosely curled hair came along bouncing, crying and in no need of sleep. Shortly after that they agreed their family was complete and they could get on with being a family, meanwhile Quinn announced she'd finally managed to get pregnant after they'd spent an unmentionable amount of money on IVF treatments, just after her 30th birthday baby Adam came into the world two days before Angel's 17th Birthday, she was so excited for having a little brother she cried every time she saw him.

**End of Flashback **

**23rd December **

"Mom" Angel called into the house, excited for Jake pulling up on the drive "Mom" she screamed again eager to make a good impression

"I'm coming" Quinn came out of the conservatory fixing her hair

"He's here" she just about got out before she went running off towards him

"He's here" Quinn turned to Joe holding their son, her face sad but accepting, they'd both thought she was much too young to have a boyfriend, Quinn scared of history repeating itself with her precious daughter but happy to see her daughter in love, she smiled at the thought of Finn stood checking this guy out right now or standing arguing with Angel trying to tell her this wasn't happening, while it was going on right under his nose. They'd decided defence wasn't the best way, she'd just go underground with this relationship and make this boy the centre of her world, and then they might lose her forever, so they played the game

"Mom this is Jake, Jake this is my Mom and Dad and my little brother Adam" she stood proudly announcing

"Nice to meet you Jake" Joe moved forward pushing Quinn to move with him

"Yeah nice to meet you" She stretched her hand out for shaking

"Ang has told me so much about you guys, nice to finally meet you both, and this must be Adam" he looked at the child in Joe's arms

"Yeah this is my Adam" Angel moved towards Joe to take her brother "We're getting ready to go to Grandma Jones' house I told you about that didn't I?"

"Yeah, it sounds very traditional" he smiled at her "I like tradition"

"Who are you parents Jake?" Quinn asked, not that she'd know them she just remembered James asking her the same question when Mercy presented Finn and her to them, and assumed it meant something "Are you from around here?"

"Let's get in the door Mom" Angel stopped her asking questions as she walked past her and into the house, with Jake in tow

**Jake's Story **

Jake was the product of a duel heritage relationship that happened some 18 years ago, to him that really wasn't a problem, he was who he was, he was well rounded and accepted everything about himself. His hair was short, fine and wavy just like my mum's, but black like his Dad's, he had no tight blond waves like his middle sister Charlotte or light brown loosely-spiralled ringlets like his little sister Dominique, but then again they weren't half black.

His Dad was a married man, so he'd been very much kept as a deep secret that could never be shared with even their closet friends. He'd grown up as the only child of colour in a family that had never showed him any bias, or left him concerned about any conversations, he was just Jake. He's seen his Grandma on his Dad's side before she died, he was sneaked into the hospital, near the end of visiting, one evening to see this half dead corpse that he was made to kiss, he had nightmares for weeks after it, and then he saw his Dad the day before her funeral, when he came to tell him she'd passed, at 13 years old he didn't see the sense in it, he didn't know her

He'd never asked his Mother why she'd agreed to this obscured way of life for him, why she'd ever agreed to keep him a secret, especially through his frustrating teens, and she'd come back with being young, naïve, he'd never accepted those reasons, but he had nowhere else to go for an alternative. She'd go on about how it was back then, like they were talking about the 1950s or something, the shouting match always ended with her crying, his Dad making an appearance, angry words maybe a slap upside his head, and a week sulking in his bedroom

"When he was 15 they'd moved from Alaska to LA and it was totally different, he wasn't the only black kid in his school, not only that there were other blended people for him to identify with. His Dad wasn't too happy about the move but his Mom's husband; Michael had decided to take a job with a local construction company, and he wasn't staying where he wasn't wanted, he was happy to move away and pretend his Dad was dead, or very close to it.

He'd been through a learning curb after moving, he knew he was black, he'd known that all his life, but interacting with other black people wasn't something he was used to doing, and although it was his heritage, he still had to learn things that his Dad or maybe his entire other side of family should have been in his life to teach, or show him. Meeting Angel was a breath of fresh air she was a white girl that had some values that were attractive to him, when she told him she had black grandparents he was intrigued to learn more for himself, as well as about her, so they hooked up

**End Of Jake's Story**

They were all sat listening to Jake's story, he left nothing out "And don't get me wrong, I get that people might have issues with who I am, but I guess I never expected my parent to have those issues, in my head if his black wife couldn't deal with it, and he knew this, he should never have touched my Mother"

"I actually agree" Quinn smiled, she was warming to this guy

"Is this over?" Angel got up asking

"It has to be, we need to get to Grandma Jones asap, she doesn't like being kept waiting" Joe told them "Come on, shopping" he held his hand out for Quinn to grab watching Angel walk off with Adam in her arms

9am and everyone was in the usual meeting spot "Where's Rachel?" Mercy asked holding little Shaw's hand tight, he was determined to walk everywhere, and neither of them had the strength to fight the child

"Harry's been up all night, she thinks he'd coming down with something, she didn't want him around the other children" Jessie told them

"Usual three hours, you all know the drill" Jennifer told them grabbing James' arm and walking away from the crowd, by now the family was that big it had been slimmed down to a secret Santa for the adults, they couldn't spend more than $150 per couple and they weren't allowed to do the shop for that particular present until the 23rd. With only the mall to shop in, everyone was frantically trying to buy a worthy present for their secret recipient, that was unique and personal

Eventually they met up at their spot to be greeted by the usual choir, they had some new people singing with them this year and they really drew attention as everyone stood listening to a well executed jazz feel on **'Merry Christmas Baby' by Ne Yo** "That was..." Mercy didn't have the words as she dropped her usual donation in the bucket

"Beautiful" Quinn finished for her

"Absolutely" Rachel came up behind them putting her donation in the bucket

"Thank you" the lady smiled "Sorry, I'm Harmony" an Italian looking lady with a great smile and her hair slicked back onto her head pointed to herself before looking at her friend

"And I'm Unique" this cheery flamboyant person stepped towards them

"Kurt, nice to meet you" Kurt dived in from nowhere grabbing Unique's hand "What are you guys doing for Christmas?" he asked not leaving room for anyone else to say their names

"We're in for a show tonight, hopefully we'll be back home by tomorrow night, home's New York" Unique told him

"Oh you're in the Puss in Boots production" Angel smiled "I'm taking my cousins later"

"Come on you guys" Carol called, watching them stood talking "We're going to be late for our lunch reservations"

"See you later" Angel smiled as they all said bye and walked away

Later that afternoon Blaine took the lead with the church choir at the mall singing a cheery **'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas' by Sam Smith **before everyone went off to do their wrapping and be with their families for the evening

**24th December **

"What are you looking so happy about?" Quinn asked Kurt as they got together outside the mall ready to pick their donations up for the Soup kitchen visit

"A gentleman never tells" he smiled pleased with himself

"I know that look" Rachel walked up behind him "You did the dirty with that Unique didn't you?"

"Surely not" Mercy gasped "You only met him yesterday"

"Please tell me you've heard of a hook up?" Kurt rolled his eyes at her

"Please tell me you know that when you sleep with someone you're sleeping with everyone they've ever slept with" Mercy replied

"And everyone has a random" Quinn added

"Talk about throwing a swerve ball" Kurt frowned

"We tell you this out of love Kurt" Sam tapped his shoulder as Blaine and Artie came towards them

"What's up?" Artie asked of the frowning faces

"Kurt's had a random" Mercy told him

"Please tell me you protected yourself?" Artie asked wide eyed

"I..."

"Shit Kurt" Blaine looked at him disappointed

"Next time" he told everyone "I'll remember next time"

They picked up the donations and met the parents and children at the soup kitchen, got their assignments and went about amusing the people and their children, just after dinner as usual the activities started and towards the end of the afternoon everyone stood watching Blaine, Kurt and the church choir perform his Christmas song again

"Story time" Jessie held the famous book up watching the children gather round "Ready?" he sat on the chair smiling as he opened the book, tentatively doing all the different voices and getting the children to make noises as he read the story **'A Visit from St. Nicholas' By Clement Clarke Moore** **_"Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse..."_**

"Even I enjoyed that" Quinn laughed, everyone mimicking his version while they cleaned up

**25th December **

"Hey" Sam head jumped off the pillow and turned at the noise coming through their bedroom door

"It's Christmas" a 3 year old Strom ran through the door with 2 year old Shaw toddling fast behind him

"You remembered" Sam laughed as they crashed into the bed "Merc" he nudged her awake "Come on"

"Give me five" she watched him jumping out of bed and grabbing the children, they had their family breakfast and sat around at home until nearing lunch time, when they got dressed to go open a present with JJ

Eventually everyone arrived and Jennifer shouted the usual "Dinner's ready" through the house

Everyone sat around the table, James got up his usual smile "This Christmas sees welcome additions to our family" he smiled "As well as Storm, Shaw, Daniel, Sam, Stevie, Quinn, Angel, Joe, Adam, Kitty, Marley, Artie, Blaine, Elliott, Brittany, Elle, Tania, Spencer, Carol, Sue, Michael, Bert, Kurt, Rachel, Jessie, Harry we welcome little Jaythan into our family, may this always feel the same to you all as it does to us right now, home" he smiled "So will you say the family grace please Sam?" James asked looking around the table set for 31


	7. Like It's Christmas

**A Day To Call Christmas**

**Like It's Christmas**

**35 Years Old **

**Flashback**

**31 Years Old**

"Happy New Year" everyone shouted raising their glasses closing the door on another year spent in each others lives, everyone going around kissing hugging and saying the words, the party was in the big house as always, everyone had stayed since Christmas Day and there'd been a few announcements over the week.

A nearing 26 year old JJ had grown very attached to Kitty, they'd been seeing each other for nearly 6 years so now they'd decided they wanted to move in together in a apartment block not far from James' offices in town, Jennifer was more than anxious asking all the usual questions, even Danial asked a few, looking at Stevie trying to gage if JJ was really up for this. Then about 10 minutes after the panic started Stevie announced Marley and he were planning on moving in across the hall from JJ, and suddenly there was a different outlook on the whole thing encouragement even, putting everyone's minds at rest.

After many years of discussion James and Daniel announced they'd officially gone into business together, following that news with more good news about giving Quinn a promotion to PA to both of them telling her there might be some travelling involved and Angel would always be invited, Mercy got a substantial pay rise to go with her new job title of Finance Director and Sam got made Partner, to say he was shocked was an understatement of some magnitude.

Rachel and Kurt had spent most of the week on their phones finally announcing that they'd managed to secure themselves some big breaks in the world of theatre, Rachel got offered the role of Sophie Sheridan in the musical Mama Mia while Kurt was playing Christopher Robin at a theatre less than a mile away from hers, they were in LA for at least 2 years. Bert was staying with Carol, he'd retired from running around with them now, so he only had time to give, they were still having Angel every fourth weekend so that Quinn could carry on with her writing

Elliott and Brittany were well underway with the plans to move back to Maryland, their Dad's wife was still rattling around in that large house that didn't belong to her, Elliott still had stuff to tie up, they were nearing the end of all that now so anything was possible. Blaine had always been the one who was interested in the designer wear business as a child, but he'd moved on, Elliott was never fully interested in it so the board had controlled things for long enough, Brittany had shown an interest in getting involved in the family business, if for no other reason but to secure the girls future, and he'd finally agreed to letting her try.

Blaine and Artie were going back to New York they were in the middle of this epic five episode series so they had to carry on working on the movie. Artie had managed to enlist Jessie onto his cast, so he was going to join them in a few weeks time for hopefully a good three weeks of work. Blaine had been around filming for so long he'd learned some of the tricks of the trade and Artie was giving him a master class in directing when they got back, he was more than excited about this new challenge

"Happy New Year" Mercy smiled up at Sam quickly pecking his lips, distracted by storm tapping he hip

"I'm tired" she told her parents

"Okay sweet we're going home now" Sam told her brushing her hair off her face

"We need to talk" Mercy turned to look at him smiling as they held their two younger children, ready to make for home, it was way past their bedtime and Shaw still slept through the noise, unlike Jaythan who was constantly switched on

Later on that night, after Jaythan was finally settled, they sat sipping wine and got ready to talk "What's up?" he turned to her asking

"I was stood in there thinking the soup kitchen shouldn't just be for the holiday, we should be doing it every day, and I thought, what's stopping us from doing something like that every day"

"Are you serious?"

"Well what's stopping us?"

"Our jobs, we just got promoted or did you not hear Dad just, not to add money, we have three children who we barely see already, a home to run, do I need to carry on?"

"Be serious Sam, you're one of the bosses at Dad's company now, which means you can step back sometimes, our children have grandparents, our home is attached to the big house, those things aren't stopping us"

"I am being serious, we don't live off our parents Merc, we pay our own way, we brought this house off them, we pay all our own bills, and I want to keep it that way"

"We have enough savings to start our own thing though?"

"Shit" he rolled his eyes, he knew this was something else she wasn't letting go of "Let me think about it" he pulled her to him "You ask a lot Mercy Evans"

"We vowed a lot Sam Evans" she smiled moving in for a kiss _**'Cause it's been another perfect day with ya, wanna lay with ya, spend the night with ya, then spend my life with ya, alright, alright, alright, yeah you heard me right'** _and you sing?"

_**"I'll go everywhere you go (I'll go everywhere you go) you know I'll go, I'll go"**_ he sang back to her

"Come with me" she pulled him with her to their bedroom laughing

"You're about to make my mind up, aren't you" he laughed following her willingly

"Everywhere I go..." she giggled, the year had definitely started with a kick, everyone had something in the pipeline

That year seemed to rush past with birthdays, anniversaries, plans and holidays passing as quickly as they came, four days before college broke up and Quinn just happen to arrive home early one afternoon and was shocked that Angel wasn't at college "What are you doing here?" she asked her daughter watching her head spin around as she wiped her face "What's the matter?"

"Nothing" she sniffed "I'm dealing with it"

"What's he done?" Quinn asked rolling her eyes she knew it was about Jake, it was always about Jake

"I'm dealing with it Mom" she jumped out the couch and walked across the room past her Mom and brother and out the door

"I guess you are" Quinn shouted after her, there was no talking to her when she was in one of her moods

**23rd December **

"Sorry" a lady smiled up at Sam after hitting his legs with her stroller, the baby obviously distracting her as it screamed for attention

"It's alright" he turned smiling at the child "We have one of those too" he laughed watching their two year old Jaythan performing while he kept hold of his hand

"Oh your son walks?" she looked at the child smiling

"Yeah" Sam smiled before frowning at the fact that there might have been some misunderstanding "Sorry I thought you meant he was vocal"

"He is, but he has Cerebral Palsy"

"Oh, I'm sorry I mislead you with that conversation" he looked down at the child "What's his name?"

"Tyson but we call him Ty" she smiled "And my name's Sugar" she looked around "And that's Rory my husband refusing to spend another dime" she laughed

"Sam" he offered his hand "That's my wife Mercy with our older two Storm and Shaw and this one's Jaythan" he turned back to look at the rest of his family before looking back at the woman "New to these parts?"

"Very, we moved here a week ago, Rory just got himself a job at J&D Architect, we're excited about it" the excitement apparent on her face

"Hi" Rory walked towards them eager to know this new friend his wife was making "Rory Flanagan" he held his hand out for shaking

"Sam Evans" he smiled

"Evans, are you connected to J&D by any chance?"

"I am" Sam laughed "I'm very connected, I'm one of the partners" he smiled

"Pleased to meet you Mr Evans" he shook his hand vigorously

"Sam please" he looked at Sugar's shocked face "And my wife is also very connected it's our parents company actually" he held his arm out as Mercy came towards him "This is Mercy" he told them "And this is Rory, Sugar and Ty" he looked down at the little boy noticing that both boys had gone quiet "He doesn't usually get on with strangers" Sam told them surprised at Jaythan playing with Ty

"Nice to meet you" Mercy moved forward to shake hands

"Rory's coming to join the company" Sam told her

"Yeah" Rory bobbed around happy to know these people

"There are very few people our age in the town, we need to stick together" Mercy told them "It can get pretty mundane if you're not into church"

"We could get into church" Sugar told her, watching Rory laugh "Yeah we'd be up front every week guaranteed, but we could give it a go" she laughed

"There's a Christmas carol service at the local church just down the street, everyone will be there, you should join us, meet the locals" Mercy told them

"We will, thank you" Rory told them

"We're starting back home to the family for the actual day but we wouldn't mind catching up when we get back" Sugar told them

"That's fine" Mercy smiled talking her phone out "Looks like our boys are destined to be friends" she looked at them still quietly looking at Jaythan's wooden train

"Look forward to seeing you guys again" Sam smiled picking Jaythan up and rolling his eyes as the two boys started screaming again

"Bye" Rory and Sugar said at the same time watching them walk away

The new family came to church that evening, met everyone before they went off to their family Christmas in Miami, Christmas came and went and everyone noticed Jake wasn't around and Angel had spent most of the day shouting on the phone "If he's not making you happy he might not be the right person for you" her Aunt Mercy told her

"You're right, I've been fighting against it, mainly because it was Mom saying it, but it's right, he's not good enough" she rested her head on her Aunt's shoulder "You know when you fall in love and give your all, it just hurts"

"I know" Mercy rubbed her Goddaughter's arm trying to comfort her "Well actually I don't" she giggled at Angel looking up at her for that lie

"I guess" Artie walked up to them talking "When you've never had better you tend to stick with what you know" he frowned "Take it from me, I've tried second best before" he laughed

"Uncle Artie" she squirmed "Too much information" they all giggled at that

**33 Years Old **

"What?" Mercy walked into the room trying to understand the end of a conversation she thought she'd heard "Did I hear that right JJ?" she gasped

"You know you did, stop blowing me up like that" JJ laughed

"What happened to contraceptives?" James asked

"Never mind that, what happened to the no sex before marriage rules?" Mercy asked

"We've gone past that" her Dad waved his hand trying to quieten her

"No we haven't, when Sam and I were living together that was all we heard, every day and what, because he's a man we can get past that?" her hands flying to her hips at the injustice of it all "That ain't happening" she waved her finger through the air at everyone

"What's up?" Sam walked into the room looking at the angry faces

"Apparently it's no big deal, but Kitty's pregnant" Mercy told him flippantly

"What?" Sam walked towards them asking with shock in his voice "What happen to the rules?"

"Exactly" Mercy held her hand up at his comment in agreement, rolling her eyes and taking a deep breath

"Look" JJ got everyone's attention "She's coming down in a minute and I want smiles" he warned

"So what's this important announcement you want us all here for?" Daniel walked into the room asking

"What announcement" Jennifer asked him looking at Mercy's suspicious face

"Well it's all gone under a cloud now hasn't it" Mercy turned to Sam vexed "We can wait" she grabbed his arm and walked off

"Merc" JJ shouted after her "I ask you to do this one thing for me and you walk away"

"I'm not walking away" she turned telling him "I'm angry JJ that there's one rule for you and another for me"

"And I hear that, but could you not just this once do something for me?" he looked at her with his puppy eyes

"Hi everyone" Kitty walked in the room before she could reply

"Kitty" she smiled "Congratulations" she hugged her genuinely "Truly blessed" she kissed her cheek, Sam stood watching her before doing his thing before the rest of the family came in, giving them time to get away

"Merc" Sam pulled her to stop walking "I know you're mad about it, but would we have wanted it any other way for us, regardless of the rules?"

"No, I don't think so, it's just... never mind" she stepped off to carry on home "Thanks Angel" she smiled as they walked into their home, watching her get up from the middle of the children, they looked comfortable together "Say hi to your Mom and get home before dark" they kissed her cheek as she left

"I get it" Sam told her watching the children playing on their computer games

"What do you get?" she look at him

"That you've never felt like you've been treated equally with JJ in the mix, that his needs have always meant yours take a back seat"

"I feel terrible" she covered her face

"Don't, I cover my feelings around Stevie too, I love him to death, just like you love JJ but we've always had to be grown up about our shit because our parents were busy coping"

"Does that make us bad people?"

"I don't think so, I think it sort of makes us who we are, thoughtful, honest, passionate, giving, but we also need to remember that JJ and Stevie didn't just need our parents more when they were younger, they're going to need them more all the while, so I guess what I'm saying is we're going to have to grow a pair and be what's missing for each other"

"You are what I was missing"

"So come on lets..."

"Hey" they heard Artie's voice through the door "Open up, my hands are full" Storm was running towards it before they could say anything

"Uncle Artie" the 6 year old with loosely curled dark hair bobbing behind her pulled the door open

"Hi Storm" he smiled at the girl "Shaw one of these are for you too" he caught the 5 year olds attention he didn't bother to call Jaythan, that stuff didn't work with him, he needed personal one to one attention "Jaythan" he smiled bending down to meet the 4 year olds eyes with a toffee apple in his hand "I had this one specially made for you" he gave the child the apple before licking the residual off his fingers "The others are on their way" he turned to look at the door "Discussing something new for Christmas" he whispered

A little after that everyone piled into their house "What's going on?" Sam asked when his Dad shut the door behind him finally ending the line coming in, sitting on chairs, couches. floor space everywhere

"We asked everyone to come around" Jennifer told them "You asked everyone to meet up earlier and we realised you went off without saying anything" she smiled "Sorry JJ took over again and we did it again" she stroked her daughters arm

"Did what again?" Mercy asked

"Ignored you" she huffed "And don't say we didn't we've always known we do that, it's just..."

"JJ I know Mom" Mercy told her

"So what did you want to tell us" James asked

"We've decided to set up our own soup kitchen" Sam told them "We've agreed a business plan and we're looking for some investors"

"For a soup kitchen?" Carol asked

"Yeah, well, we were looking at something more long term, somewhere they could maybe live for a while" Mercy added

"What like a poor house" Jennifer asked shocked

"Nobody calls them that anymore Mom" Mercy laughed "Artie actually gave us the idea, apparently when he was in England he visited some homeless projects, they were learning life skills to young people, offering employment opportunities and had good links with housing providers to move these homeless people onto once they'd made progress in their lives, it sounded like a good thing for us to do here"

"She said we, but it was totally her idea and she talked me around early on" Sam grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to him

"So what do you think?" Mercy looked at her Dad asking

"As investors or parents?" Daniel asked

"Parents" Mercy giggled "We really want to have a go at doing this ourselves before running to the bank of Mom and Dad"

"Well any help you need with getting that physically set up, call on me" Quinn went towards them for hugs

"I'm in with whatever you need" Artie jumped over the couch smiling

"He means we're in" Blaine cut his eye at him smiling

**24th December **

So they'd plugged their plan to the family everyone had brought into their vision, the next step of the plan was to start looking for investors after the holidays. Sam, Mercy and their children were out doing their usual soup kitchen collection and getting ready to meet up with Quinn, Joe, Harry, Artie, Blaine, Rachel, Jessie, Adam, Kurt and now a very single Angel, their parents weren't involved in this part of the process anymore, they'd planned to meet them at the usual spot after they'd finished their very relaxed coffee and cake at Carol's new eatery.

"Storm" Mercy called watching the boy slam into a woman pushing a wheelchair "Watch were you're going" she held her hand out for her 6 year old to grab "Sorry" she looked up at the woman he'd offended

"It's fine" she smiled, looking at the other children "I need a rest anyway" she stopped pushing the wheelchair and stood looking around the mall "Mike" she called waving at someone pushing another wheelchair ahead of her "Rest" she called watching him stop and start on his way back, Mercy was standing waiting for Sam and Jaythan to catch up to them with the trolley full of presents

"Sam" Mike stopped short of getting to his wife surprised to see him

"Mike?" Sam asked laughing "Mike Chang" he laughed grabbing his hand before hugging him

"What are you doing in these parts?" Mike asked laughing

"I live here" he told his friend

"I thought you were Texan through and through" Mike stepped back "Sorry this is my wife Tina" he looked at her standing watching them, before looking back at Sam raising his eyes lid "And her Mother and this" Tina turned the other wheelchair around "Is my Father" he looked at them as Sam and Mercy nodded acknowledgement with a smile, Sam's eyes looking approvingly at Mike

"This is my wife Mercy, the reason I'm here now, and our three children Storm, Shaw and Jaythan" Sam pointed at his children as he said their names "Mike and I went to University together, he's a great non-fighter" he told Mercy

Mercy and Tina said a sheepish hello to each other before paying attention to their husbands conversations, Sam had never talked much about University other than the classes, most of their conversations back then were taken up with them, their life, feelings, aspirations, dreams, plans, other people just didn't figure

"So what are you guys doing here?" Sam finally asked, when they finished their run down of who was doing what now, from the other students they knew

"Tina's Dad just died, and these two really need us around right now, so would you believe, we've just sold up in New Zealand, getting ready to sell my parents home in Brooklyn, and we're all living in her parents home just about five miles away, for the time being anyway, taking on the traditional care role and all that" he rolled his eyes smiling

"We'll definitely have to meet up" Sam told him still excited for seeing him

"In the new year" Mike told him "It's really good to see you Dude" Mike held his hand out to say bye "We'll have to bring these two with us I'm afraid" he told him

"That's fine" Mercy jumped in smiling "Nice to meet you both" her eyes zoning in on Tina as she spoke, they shared a smile

They went off to meet the others before making the journey over to the soup kitchen for the usual festivities, there was a special treat in store as Angel had gotten the children to perform a mini version of the story of Jesus for the crowd, singing pop songs rather than carols. Nevertheless everyone was up and dancing when Sam saved the day leading the children into his version of **'Like It's Christmas' by Jonas Brothers** the only song befitting the festive season in the whole play

Later on Angel took her turn in reading the story for the children, she sat with Harry on her lap doing the voices of the characters from **'A Visit from St. Nicholas' By Clement Clarke Moore ****_"Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse..." _**the children listening with interest at the story they'd maybe never heard before

After the story, the clean up happened and everyone left for their own space

**34 Years old **

Quinn had heard Angel crying in her bedroom again and of course she tried to support her but she wasn't having it, she still claimed everything was fine. They'd all agreed to watch that space and keep a close eye on her, but now Joe was on facetime reporting that she'd been screaming pyrophanites at someone over the phone for about ten minutes and it seemed like the toxic relationship might finally be over.

"Thank God for that, prayer is powerful" Sam rolled his eyes in relief at the news

"That's one true thing I know" Quinn smiled holding her chest, finally the worry had gone "That guy was toxic"

"But you knew there was no point in telling her that" Mercy frowned

"Yes Mrs Evans, you were right" Quin giggled

"Now we've sorted Angel we have a little announcement of our own" Artie butted into the conversation, Blaine smiled at his lover's decision to make their announcement "I asked Blaine to marry me last night and he said yes so we're finally going to do it" he smiled at the faces lighting up in front of them "Next month" he added to everyone's gasps

"Congratulations" Mercy held her heart looking at their friends

"About time" Quinn laughed grabbing Joe's arm

"Congratulations Guys" Mike smiled looking back at Tina feeding one of their parents "From both of us"

"I guess we're happy for you guys too" Rachel half grinned "No seriously congratulations" she giggled

"Everyone meet Sabastian" Kurt got in front of her camera dragging some dark haired hottie in front of him, smiling at everyone's surprised hello "He's my plus one"

"Don't we all know it" Rachel rolled her eyes when she finally came back into view

"Thanks" Artie smiled "Now make sure you have the 19th free"

"That's in three weeks time" Sam's voice seemed to set off a panic in everyone, they were all talking at the same time about things they had to make sure to move around to get there, eventually the conversation ended, everyone went off to make preparations to make that weekend free, if they knew Artie it was going to be extravagant.

**Tina & Mike's Story **

Sam and Mike had met at University, Mike was doing Engineering with a minor in Accounting and they'd had a few lectures together. They'd become friends one day after Mike had a very sophisticated fight with a freshman, it was more a battle of minds than actual fists, everyone stood amused as Mike dodged this guys attempts at hitting him with great ease, of course the guy got more aggressive as the fight led to nowhere, and eventually the two of them laughed it off.

Sam and he had sat next to each other at their next lecture and conversation sparked "So what was that all about?" Sam asked out of curiosity

"I fancy Tina, his step-sister and I guess he was trying to warn me off"

"Is that why you weren't hitting him?"

"Yeah, she'd kill me if she knew I'd hit him" he laughed

"I've never even dreamt of touching my girls brother, he's autistic for one and I'm sure my little bro would kill me, their like soul mates since day one" Sam laughed

"What's her name?"

"Mercy" he smiled at seeing her face as he called her name "I've liked her since we were 16 years old, we actually started going out just before I left to come here, but we think we're working well, it's all very secret at the moment"

"Why?"

"Our parents are good friends and we just don't want to rock the boat, they're Christians too, we all are"

"Gosh they could be twins" Mike laughed "Tina's brother's a half brother on her Dad's side, her Dad's first wife died of some hereditary disease, leaving her brother and him before he married her Mom, had Tina and sit in church nearly every damn day"

"Church is alright" Sam frowned

Their conversations were sometimes deep, sometimes focused and most of the time around falling in love with what they termed as the girl next door, they fought off female attention on a regular basis together, and when they finally finished university, they shook hands and went off to live their lives, very focused in what they wanted

Mike had arrived home just a week before Tina's brother lost his battle with the terrible disease that had taken his Mother, and shortly after that he got an Engineering job in New Zealand, they came back to America a year later and got married before returning for his Job while Tina set up her tattoo business. They'd had bad luck when it came to making their family, at first Tina had gone into depression thinking it was her that couldn't get pregnant but after investigation they found it was Mike, their life was rough for about eighteen months after that, but Mike finally came to terms with the situation and their relationship grew into something else.

Their time in New Zealand was interrupted only by visits back to Arizona to visit his Family or LA to visit hers twice a year. Just after his Dad died at the ripe age of 97, his Mom seemed to deteriorate fast and then as if in competition Tina's Dad, who had been alone for a few years now, developed traits of dementia, which they got diagnosed quickly and went into action.

Their whole life changed in less than four months, they sold everything they knew in New Zealand, came back to sell his Mother's house in Arizona and moved in to Tina's parents house. She'd always dreamed of opening up a Tattoo shop near home, but she'd followed his dreams all these years, and now he felt it was his turn to let her have a go at seeing her dreams through.

It was sheer luck that they met up on Sam at the Mall, it felt funny knowing so much about his partner without ever having met her, but he guessed Sam felt the same way about meeting Tina. They were in a position they hadn't been in for a long while, they had an unmortgaged house and more money than they knew what to do with

**End Of Mike & Tina's Story **

There had been a lot of preparation gone into getting this wedding right, everyone had been kept in the dark about it all, they were just told Blue was the colour and a week before they got a clue of which blue when they saw Storm's dress and Shaw's suit and then shopping got crazy. There was a registered ceremony on the day, Elliott walked Blaine down the Isle, while Artie's Dad Michael walked him, Santana turned up with her husband Brodie and their little boy Byron, and even Unique passed through.

Everyone stood looking at each other trying to figure out what all the secrecy was about as Artie and Blaine made their vows to each other, then everyone was ordered to get on a coach and after a forty minute drive they were alighted at a disused railway station

"Where are we?" Tina asked struggling to get the wheelchair over the cobbled path

"Train station" Angel suggested wondering if she wasn't seeing the same as everyone else

The walked up a ramp and into the carriage, through the double doors to be greeted by waiters holding trays of Champaign and other drinks, everyone took their tipple and went into conversation for a while before the door opened and individuals were called forward to enter the dining carriage, which was a very long table stretching the length of the carriage with benches either side, a very navy and sky blue room with silver cutlery and crockery lining the table, with five or six fountains running down it, it was breath taking

After some speeches and cake cutting the table was cleared and sunk into the floor of the carriage to allow the wheelchairs to follow everyone into the next carriage where the disco went on into the night until Artie and Blaine left for their honeymoon in Paris.

"That was a lovely day, they done well" Jennifer smiled grabbing a noisy Strom still finding the energy to run up and down the coach "Come on Missy sit here with me" she told the 7 year old. They were back home by 11pm and the children in bed settled in the big house while the adults carried on getting to now each other at Mercy and Sam's

"I can't believe you were going to marry Blaine" Quinn smiled at Santana as she poured her a drink

"I don't really think that was ever going to happen, that was all our parents, I had a boyfriend"

"Did Blaine know that?" Quinn stopped to ask

"I don't know, I didn't used to tell anyone about my personal life"

"Sorry I'm being nosy, so Brodie" Quinn turned to him ready to fire more questions

"Yeah I was the boyfriend" he laughed "We've both been round the houses since then but we found each other again about 8 years ago"

"Okay" Mercy got up clapping her hands "Let's break this up" she stood in the middle of the room "Anyone up for a song?" she asked "Something jolly maybe a favourite song from your playlist or something, it can be absolutely anything you want just not this damn conversaton" she sat back down

"We've got one" Quinn grabbed Joe up and took the space in front of the coffee table as their stage "Put this on for us please" she handed her phone to Sam "And just press play" she instructed smiling as she gave the microphone to Joe

"What?" he asked still wondering what she was doing

"It's that song you always sing me" she told him

"What and I'm singing it?"

"So you don't want to sing it to me?"

"I didn't say that" he laughed looking around the room "Sorry guys" he told them holding the mic to his mouth "Does anyone want to join me?"

"I'll jump in" Brodie smiled jumping up

"I'll start" Joe told him as they sang their version of **'I Just Do' by Gourdan Banks & Cosmic Caviar **Joe starting off and Brodie joining in before taking the second verse

"I think they've set the tone" Tina laughed pushing Mike to get up

"What? I don't sing" he told he,r like she didn't know

"It's not how it sounds it's what you say that matters" she shooed him off

"I'll join you" Jessie and Sam volunteered at the same time

"Oaky" he smiled

"Thanks babe" Tina grabbed Mike's hand and pulled him to her for a kiss, while Santana simply kissed her husband as he took his place next to her back

"I can dance to anything"

"I remember" Sam laughed as **'Dazed & Confused' by Ruel** blasted through the speakers, Mike dancing as Sam took the first verse followed by Jessie, then sharing the rest of the song

"Now that was a much better vibe than the mess you were trying to create don't you think?" Mercy asked Quinn smiling as Sam kissed her neck "I know what that meant?" she giggled at his lips lingering

"I'm sort of hoping you know what I mean" he whispered in her ear

"I'm all over that" she looked into his eyes, holding them long enough for him to know she meant what she'd said

"We need to be making tracks, it's my Mom's birthday tomorrow, I need to get home" Santana told them all as she got up

"Sure" Mercy smiled getting up and bit faster than she should have "You guys should try and make it up for Christmas or anytime during that week, everyone usually passes through and there's more than enough space at the dinner table"

"Thanks" Santana smiled grabbing Jessie's hand "We'd like that"

The guest dwindled off until there was only Tina and Mike left siting on the couch snuggled up like they weren't about to leave "We waited until everyone had gone because we wanted to talk to you guys" Mike sat forward on the couch

"What's happened?" Mercy sat forward concerned

"Nothing's happened, we've just been watching you guys getting really serious about your project, we noticed that you've spoken to a few potential investors but not us and we were wondering why not" he looked directly at Sam

"Well you're friends, we'd never dream of taking advantage like that" Sam told him

"No denying that, but we have an abundance of money that we're not using right now, it makes perfect sense to us to invest it"

"But you haven't even seen the business plan" Mercy told them concerned they were willing to jump in blind

"We'll get to that stuff" Tina smiled "We wanted to help, I mean really help, so have you thought about renting a premises?"

"I think that's what we had in mind originally, but it's finding the right place, we've looked at so many" Sam sighed

"How about we look at a farm rather than something closer to town, get them planting their own food, cattle, selling to the community"

"We didn't think of that, but it could work"

"We'd like you to come look at a property with us after the holidays, see if it's what you're looking to rent"

"Somebody's been doing the ground work" Sam laughed

"We're looking to settle and a business venture like this could give both of us the opportunity to give something back, it's an amazing challenge"

"It is that" Mercy smiled

So for Christmas that year they got the hope that finally something was going to lift off for their new venture the project they'd been dreaming about for nearly three years was maybe about to hit the ground running.

**End of Flashback **

**35 Years Old **

**23rd December **

Today Angel was the problem, a fierce 22 year old stood telling her parents, she was pregnant and planning on keeping her baby "Who the hell for?" Joe asked shocked, she hadn't even hinted that there was anyone she was hanging out with let alone in a relationship with

"Ryder, he's from my office, we've been dating on and off for about five months now" she looked at her Dad half smiling

"Five months is no time at all" Joe told her knowing Quinn was keeping quiet to avoid the usual, you did it argument

"Five months is plenty isn't it Mom" she looked at her Mother trying to deflect the attention from her situation

"You're always quick to go there with me, let's see how quickly you get that shit past your Godparents" Quinn picked her phone up to make the call

"I want to tell them myself" Angel snapped

"Adam" Quinn shouted their five year old to come out the play room "It's time to go baby" she gave him the smile he always responded to "Come on" she held her hand out for him to grab, making sure he did before looking back at Angel, still cross with her while walking out the door

"So are you coming?" Joe asked Angle stood watching them

"Yeah" she grabbed her coat and followed them, the drive to the mall was quiet

"Morning" Quinn smiled falsely as the crowd came into view

"Morning.." everyone started off smiling, their faces soon filled with surprise as Angel veered off towards a young boy they'd noticed handing around

"Who's that?" Sam asked putting a very lively Jaythan down, he still wasn't to be trusted not to run away if let loose "Grab him Merc" he turned quickly to say before stepping off, stopping when he realised Angel was bringing him towards them

"Everyone" she smiled "This is Ryder"

"Ryder?" Sam asked looking at Joe and Quinn for confirmation

"There's more" Quinn told them

"Yes, there's more" Angel cut her eye at her Mom trying to steal her thunder "We're four months pregnant, and we want this baby" she held her tummy

"What?" Artie stepped forward shocked "How long have you known him?" he asked "Where is he from?" he asked before she could answer the first question "What the hell?"

"Artie" Sam stepped to him

"Sorry, it's the shock" Artie finally looked at Ryder "How old are you?"

"24" he looked back at he man puzzled "Look" he raised his hand stopping any more questions "Angel's told me how important you guys are to her, which is why I'm here to assure you all that I have the very best intentions for your daughter, goddaughter, niece, granddaughter, cousin whatever she is to you guys" Ryder told them "I can assure you my parents are just as upset by this, and that we've decided to wait until after the baby's here before we actually get married" he smiled down at her "I have the means to support her, not only am I the only child and heir to the Lynn estate in San Simeon, but I'm also a well established owner of a publishing company, I've loved books since in can remember, and I write a bit too"

There was silence for a while as everyone took the moment in, his parents weren't accepting of this situation either, that's exactly where her parents had started, did they really want history to repeat itself with the life of someone else ending swiftly

"Angel" Mercy walked towards her after that very well presented introduction "Are you happy?"

"Yes" she smiled at the first kind words said since the conversation started "Thank you for asking"

"Then congratulations" she smiled hugging her "And you" she touched Ryder's arm "Welcome to the family" she turned to look at Quinn "What?" she asked of her questioning face "He's standing by her" she told her

"How do you know that" Quinn asked still vexed

"Because he told us where he comes from, and I have this well known trait of finishing things" Mercy told her

"And?" Artie stood wondering if he'd missed something

"If he doesn't do what he's just told us all he's going to do, I will finish him"

"Welcome to the family" Sam stepped forward satisfied with that

Welcome and congratulations was the words of the day for a while, it still took half the morning for Quinn to come around but eventually, by the time they'd finished shopping, she did

As usual everyone went to church that afternoon for practice before heading down to the mall for the annual carol singing, they all agreed when in memory of Finn, which seemed so poignant today with the news from Angel, Quinn asked the girls to sing **'One I've Been Missing' By Little Mix **

_ **Quinn: **I'm sorry I ain't been around, but you've been on my mind a million times, I'll make it up to you now_  
_ **Rachel: **We'll wrap the presents, and put up the tree together, be together, baby there's no better gift_  
_ **Mercy: **And now that I have you here, is when I feel it the most_

_** Quinn** (**All): **Cause I've been gone so long, but I kept holding on, cause I need to show you, just how much I love you this Christmas_  
_ Is it the lights in your eyes, they've never shone so bright, I've waited all year to be near_, _to the one I've been missing, this Christmas_  
_ (To the one I've been missing, to the one I've been missing) To the one I've been missing_  
_ (To the one I've been missing, to the one I've been missing)_

_ **Quinn: **I feel too lonely to sleep, boy, when you're on the wrong side of the world, now with the snow at our feet_  
_ **Tina: **We'll sit by the fire, and we'll set the scene together, dream together, baby, there's no better gift_  
_ **Brittany: **Now that I have you here, that's when I feel it the most_

_**Mercy (All):** Cause I've been gone so long, but I kept holding on, cause I need to show you, just how much I love you this Christmas_  
_ Is it the lights in your eyes, they've never shone so bright, I've waited all year to be near_, _to the one I've been missing, this Christmas_  
_ (To the one I've been missing) This Christmas (To the one I've been missing) To the one I've been missing_  
_ (To the one I've been missing) This Christmas (To the one I've been missing) To the one I've been missing_  
_ (To the one I've been missing) This Christmas (To the one I've been missing) **Mercy: **To the one __**Quinn: **To the one **Quinn & Mercy: **I've been missing_

"Thank you" Quinn said, it was maybe the fist time she'd actually felt like doing anything like that since Finn's passing "Sweet" she grabbed Angel's hand "I love you and I'll support you guys, I don't actually know what I was thinking, that just wasn't me earlier" she laughed

"Do you mean that?"

"Of course I mean it, apart from anything else, you're Dad would be turning in his grave at me turning my back, we love you"

"Normality is restored" Sam announced before everyone went home to wrap presents, Mercy, Tina, Mike and he getting back to their house for the last of the wrapping for the six families that now lived in their new project before Sam and Mike left out to get the presents across town to 'The House'

**24th December **

"They're not back yet" Mercy came out the bedroom to see Tina sitting up on the couch "Didn't you get to bed"

"No I was so worried"

"Something must have happened at The House last night"

"Surely they would have called"

"Yeah" Mercy didn't tell her she'd been up all night worrying too, she couldn't contact him on his phone and that never happened

"Mommy" Storm came running towards her with her own drama, that girl had enough for everyone at her tender age of 8 years old "Shaw and Jay are fighting again" Mercy rolled her eyes at the boys, they hadn't got on since birth, before walking off towards their bedroom

"Boys" she shouted stopping the fight in it's tracks "You know what Daddy would say if he walked in here just then"

"It's him" Shaw sat looking at Jaythan as if he wanted to really hurt him

"It's both of you" Mercy walked over to the bed and sat down "Look Mommy's got a lot on today, please behave yourselves or you'll stay home with Gramps instead of seeing all your friends at the soup kitchen" she frowned "You wouldn't want that would you?"

"Sorry Mommy" Jaythan flashed his angelic eyes at her, she knew he meant not a word of it

"Just keep him away from me, we all know everything he says is a lie, he doesn't even fear God" Shaw told her, sounding more like Daniel than Daniel himself

They did what they needed to that morning and went off to the soup kitchen, without Sam for the first time in 25 years she was on her own "Mercy" Blaine walked towards her concerned "Do you want to do the honours?"

"Not really" she looked at the small stage

"Go on it might be just what you need" she looked at him before looing back at the mic

"Okay, church will you back me up" she walked over and grabbed the mic to deliver her rendition of **'Do You Hear What I Say' by Pentatonix & Whitney Houston **eventually smiling as Mike and Sam walked through the door "Where were you?" she asked when she finally finished the song

"Long story" he kissed her nose telling her "We'll talk later" he watched his children running towards him and gave attention, the afternoon finished in the usual way as they went home to prepare for their Christmas guests and help Jennifer in the kitchen, Sam told Mercy about being picked up by the police because of all the presents and being held over night, before bed "We promised each other something a few days ago" he jumped into bed smirking, after lighting the candles to set the mood

**25th December **

There was nothing new about the workings of the day, the guests arrived throughout the morning, JJ opened his present with Mercy and then that familiar voice called "Dinner's ready" through the house

Everyone sat around the tables, James got up his usual smile "This Christmas sees welcome additions to our family" he smiled "As well as Storm, Shaw, Jaythan, Sam, Daniel, Stevie, Quinn, Angel, Joe, Adam, Kitty, Marley, Artie, Blaine, Elliott, Brittany, Elle, Tania, Spencer, Carol, Sue, Michael, Bert, Kurt, Rachel, Jessie, Harry, Mike, Tina, Xiu, Yan Lee, Rory, Sugar, Tyson we welcome Santana, little Byron and Brodie into our family, may this always feel the same to you all as it does to us right now, home" he smiled "So will you say the family grace please Sam?" James asked looking around the table set for 41


	8. All I Want For Christmas Is You

**A Day To Call Christmas**

**All I Want For Christmas Is You **

**40 Years Old **

**22nd December **

It had been a solid 30 years since Mercy and her family had started building their family in Christ, they'd achieves so much, so many people had impacted on their lives, they had been truly blessed. Every year they were celebrating something whether that be life, new, old, gone, lost or found, and now they were hoping things would settle down

They'd managed, with more help than they'd envisaged from Tina and Mike, to set up 'The House' a safe haven for families that had lost their way and just needed a hand to get back in touch with their lost life, there was a scholarship fund for the children of those families to get back into school, the firm sometimes gave opportunities to parents to do paid work as well as gain skills to change direction if they wanted to, or even upskill on current one's. Through Joe's links with the local housing agency, they'd managed to get a contract together to help with moving families into their own accommodation, when they'd eventually made enough to back the application, and they'd kept in touch with every family that had lived at 'The House'.

The House was in Bakersfield just over 2 hours drive away, they'd gone that far out because they didn't want to step on Millie's toes, and truth be told California had enough homeless people needing support to go around. The business had been running successfully for just over 5 years although it had been open for nearly 7, back then they were new to the whole thing, there were hurdles to cross before they finally decided they knew what they were doing and invited more investors to build a firm funding base.

They were back at what was now known as J&E's full time now, things had changed,

Today Mercy sat in her couch watching her babies interacting with his cousins, Jaythan sitting on the outskirts as usual, feeling lost because Ty was missing. The boys were truly wrapped in each other, it was no surprise that at 11 years of age their go to people were Stevie and JJ, they got all their secrecy stuff. It wasn't really worrying for Sam and Mercy but Sugar frequently aired her concerns about the boys attachment to each other, but after a few months of seeing JJ ad Stevie's healthy relationship she finally accepted it.

There weren't many people JJ and Stevie ever let into their circle of trust, even now, outside of their parents, siblings and of course Kitty and Marley, but it seemed like since the birth of JJ's daughter Maddie 6 years ago and Stevie's son Marc 4 years ago, they'd both learned to share time with other people, especially with Maddie and Marc, that was a joy to watch. Everyone could tell it was the proudest day of JJ's life when he walked down to the alter with Maddie in his arms for her Christening passing her over to Stevie her proud Godfather, it was beautiful to see the pleasure returned 2 years later when Marc arrived

"Adam" Quinn shouted across the room, grabbing Mercy's attention for a second, while her eyes found the child, and scanned the room for her own children, the child was taunting her precious Steel with a sweet, she treated that child like she was gold, Grandparenthood suited her

**Flashback**

Quinn was stood there all grown, surviving against all her odds, they'd both thought the pain was going to kill them the day they found Finn's lifeless body "Finn" she gasped remembering her friend again, saying his name was still something she missed, smiling at the memory of them meeting _"Hello" he'd said sheepishly as his Mom plonked herself beside him on the bench. He looked so frightened she didn't have the heart to tell him he was crushing her best dress as the woman pushed him into her as she wiggled her bum to get comfortable on the bench _

_"Hello" she smiled offering him a strawberry "They're from the garden" she held it out for him to take _

_"Thank you" he smiled a cute smile that told her straight away he was comfortable_

"He had my back no matter what" she told herself looking back at Quinn, laughing at Finn's rendition of 'This Christmas' but somehow it attracted her, she looked at her friend again

"_And I'm Quinn" Mercy giggled at the girl as she remembered that pushy little girl that pushed herself into their conversation that day_

_She sneak peaked at Sam thinking maybe without knowing it she was already attracted to him back then, remembering her response to Quinn's introduction "This is Finn" she thrown her hand up directing the girls face to her friend,_ she couldn't remember right now if she ever did introduce her to Sam that day "Imagine I'd never even heard of gay Dad's back then"

**End of Flashback**

"What are you sat here thinking about?" Sam sat next to her asking before throwing a piece of gingerbread in his mouth, Mercy smiled and told him what was on her mind

"I was just sat wondering if I'd introduced Quinn to you that first day, and if I didn't why not"

"To tell the truth, and it's sad to say now, but when we first met I didn't think there was anything I hated more in the world than girls" he laughed

"That's fine I didn't see the use for boys either" she laughed "I shouldn't be laughing" she held her lips closed while her eyes widened

"You should be doing whatever you want" Sam told her kissing her cheek "Look at him, I bet he's still singing your praise" he nodded in Artie's direction

"It's good to know I've got at least two avid fans" she smiled at him

"We deserve all the praise, all of us" he looked around the room "We'll be where they are with this soon" he looked at Quinn forcing Adam to play with her

**Quinn**

Her Dad had been ill for a while, he'd gotten to the stage were he'd spent a long stint in hospital and the only option for him now was a care home, she wasn't having that, she'd already missed Clint's death and had no intention of letting her Dad down after the years it had taken for them to rebuld their relationship. Joe was up for it, so they moved him out of hospital and into their home, they had a worthy three months together which Angel and Quinn had said they wouldn't have changed before he finally gave up the fight and went home. Quinn was broken she seemed to focus on the fact that she was an orphan, which everyone thought was strange as she'd lived as one since she was 13 years old, but with church, friends and Joe she worked through it and was smiling again.

It helped that Ryder and Angel got married just three weeks after the baby was born, they'd started planning the wedding when Gramps got sick, it was supposed to make him want to live longer, but he sort of gave up just two weeks after. It was an emotional day for the family seeing Angel walk down the Isle, Quinn, Sam and Mercy had been together before here existence, but she was the reason they'd all intermingled in each others lives, the church had supported them in bringing her up, everyone's baby was fleeing the nest. The speeches were actually longer than the disco that followed, the most emotional of all was Spencer, his body weak with morphine expressed his love, support and hopes for his Granddaughter before giving them the keys to his house as their wedding present.

**Kurt & Rachel**

It seemed like the sickness bug ran through the family as Bert seemed to announce his cancer as soon as Spencer closed his eyes, everything stopped for Rachel and Kurt, Jessie and Sabastian were like rocks for them, but true to the drama Queen's they were, nothing was ever enough. Carol's focus moved from Angel and Quinn to Kurt and Rachel and that didn't go down well with Quinn she was all for cutting her out of their lives, warning her about her loyalties and banning her from her house. It finally took some talking but Quinn came round and even supported Rachel and Kurt when inevitably, with his aggressive cancer, their Dad passed

**Tina & Mike**

It was just a few months between Bert's burial and Mike's Dad's death and it seemed like Tina's Mom followed out of sheer loneliness, the ceremony was quick and their ashes were shipped off to China to be scattered on the family land, Tina and Mike took them over and stayed for a week before returning home to finally sell the house buying something smaller, close to the City

**Blaine & Artie**

There was a cry for no more from everyone as pain seemed to be the theme of the past year, then their prayers were answered when a year of calm came; Blaine and Artie adopted little Charity she had the deepest blue eyes you'd ever see on a person, just gone 1 year old, of course there was a arrival party, a walking now party, a first words party everything and anything

**Angel** **& Ryder **

Angel's baby boy Steel, called that because he came out so fast he bounced off the floor, after tests they came back telling them his head must be made of steel because they couldn't find any injury. They got a bit worried when they found he was prone to slips trips and bumps, he'd bump into anything, so much so they'd taken him to the doctors for tests, which of course came back clear, he was deemed a clumsy boy

**Daniel **

Then just before Christmas that year things took a bad turn again when Daniel and James were playing football with all the grandchildren in the garden, Daniel fell and did something to his hip, Sam was past angry at the clumsiness of the situation, demanded that his Dad totally rest up. He totally left 'The House' project for Mike to manage while he took on the family business full time.

**Sam & Mercy**

There was a good 6 months of angry from Sam. Mercy had never seen him in any kind of mood that lasted longer than an hour, he wasn't even talking to her sometimes, snapping at the children, except Storm, who seemed to be his best friend during his moods. One day he just came in apologised for his behaviour and suddenly started talking again, they all breathed when it was over

"What's the matter?" she'd asked as he slammed himself in the couch, she rolled her eyes at his sulking silence "I'm fed up of feeding your ego Evans" she threw the cushion on the couch and got up "If you're unhappy just say it, so we can fix it"

"I'm not unhappy, I'm..." he looked up at her "I know we're Christians, but it's alright to talk about sex Merc"

"We do talk about sex" she looked at him puzzled

"When we're going to have it, where we can have it, how we can have it, I want something else"

"Someone else?" she asked shocked as she sat down slowly

"Something" he corrected her "I've just sat in church listening to stuff some of the guys are going through, finding myself praying we don't end up where they are"

"Why what happened?"

"They were creating wish lists and my mind went there and now I'm thinking, we need some of that"

"Some of..?"

"Experimenting in the bedroom, spontaneity, no more missionary position, something else"

"I thought…" she laughed "I thought...you liked" she grabbed his hand "I guess I took Mom's advice too literal" she giggled "She said something about you always having my best interest at heart, so I let you lead"

"Note to Merc, I'd love it if you led sometimes"

"Noted" she giggled, a few conversations, books and weeks later, on their 10th anniversary, she led, and to be honest they'd not stopped having fun in the bedroom yet, submission had taken on many forms for both of them. They were closer now than they'd been on their wedding day, the children were growing up and they were finding time for their relationship

**22nd December **

"I love you Sam Evans" her thoughts came back into the room, she leaned into him, while her hand turned his face, she gently kissed his lips

"I love you right back Mercy Evans" he smiled "And I promise we'll be alright"

Elliott and Brittany had come up a week early and taken a front seat in the sorting out the children's activities at the soup kitchen while everyone else dealt with baby's, parents and demanding jobs, Elliott had made Partner in his law firm, and Brittany was a well established self employed Psychiatrist, which didn't leave lots of time to do charitable work. They had more than everyone else at the moment, nevertheless they soon learned there was more to seeing the children's faces light up on Christmas Eve, than collecting a load of presents, the back work was phenomenal

"Are you ready Mommy?" Shaw asked tapping her leg, he could see she was day dreaming again, she did a lot of that lately "We're about to start" he smiled making her smile. The children had got together to do their version of the nativity for the parents, directed by Angel and Ryder who had both decided to go into teaching and were doing very well at the local college.

"I'm ready sweetheart" she smiled at him getting up to go sit on one of the chairs they'd put out in the main dining room in front of the make shift stage, Sam sat beside her and wrapped his arm around her, watching as everyone else found seats, and excitement rose for the children. They did hardly any traditional songs as Storm playing Mary did a whole scene on being questioned about her skin colour and the fact that Adam couldn't be Jesus because people weren't expecting some bushy haired boy, then the wise men were played by Maddie, Marc and Jaythan played the wise men taking some stick because the masses didn't believe they were who they said they were because their skin wasn't burnt dark by the sun, it just seemed like everything was controversial and in the confusion they were singing R&B, Country and Hip Hop songs along the way

At the end a very confident Shaw stood telling them that back then the world was a lot less complicated, more accepting of peoples and their differences, how people still knew they belonged, highlighting how hard it would be for us to identify Jesus or someone like him in the world we live in today. What started off as a funny portrayal of an age old production became the core of a conversation that took place following the show with everyone involved, the world was changing, the children were living in a much different world to the one their parents were living in, and seeing things with fresh eyes.

The day ended with everyone retiring to their rooms in the big house, conversations went on between couples well into the night. Sam and Mercy and their family went home of course, everyone needed to be up early in the morning, more people were coming and there was shopping to be done.

"You've been quiet all day" Sam sat on their bed noting about his wife

"Reflecting" she smiled before laying down "Goodnight"

"Goodnight" he kissed her nose and watched her fall asleep

**23rd December **

Jaythan was up before the birds, he was acting like he'd been eating chocolate all night, Sam sat up smiling, they all knew why, Ty was coming today, this morning actually, hopefully they'd be here for breakfast and then they wouldn't need to worry about him for the rest of the holidays. Sugar and Rory were going off to visit Rory's family in Ireland on the 29th for a week and Sam had agreed to Jaythan going with them as his Christmas present

"Come on get dressed" Sam jumped off the bed, kissing his wife before he made for the door to get the others up, Storm at 13 had a whole regime for getting dressed every morning that demanded an hour, the boys had the time it took her to choose her outfit and tie her hair up to finish using the bathroom, otherwise there was a voice war in the house. That of course triggered Mercy's flip action she was up yelling louder than everyone about respect, sharing, caring while Sam and the boys stood watching the almighty face off between the two females, always ending with Mercy clenching her fists, thinning her lips and walking off after delivering a warning that Storm knew she had to listen to

It was like they all knew better today, silently everyone got dressed, whispering so as not to disturb their Mom before time "Come on Mom will be pleased to see you guys all organised" Sam told his children, it had been the roughest of all years for Mercy it was this time last year her Dad took a stroke just before they left to visit the soup kitchen, he was adamant that they didnt miss it, so they all left her parents at the hospital and went off to deliver gifts, serve food, sings songs and read stories as usual only to return to the hospital four hours later to find they were too late he'd suffered another massive attack and left this world. Mercy was broken, everyone was, and in the midst of it all Jennifer was having to deal with JJ's grief, that manifested itself in him returning to his clingy childhood ways, it was a tough time for Stevie and Kitty and a lonely one for Mercy

Her Mom was never herself after that, a shadow had formed over her, routine went out the window in less than a month she looked like someone that had aged 10 years, Mercy's attention shifted from herself to her Mom, she was worried about her, she wasn't sleeping, eating properly and she'd even started making excuses why she couldn't get to church. Carol dropped everything and came to live at the big house in the hope that she'd keep her spirits up and it helped for a while but it wasn't long before depression set in and they'd find her curled in a corner somewhere in the house crying for her husband, begging to be taken to be with him again, Daniel undrstood it, he'd been there before.

The grandchildren had been enlisted to try and get her focused again, she loved being around them, but even that wasn't enough, within two months she'd taken to her bed and within 6 months of James passing Jennifer followed him. The minister talked about true love, soulmates, heavenly bonds and all that but Mercy wanted to scream stuff all that she just wanted her parents back, she became a depressed orphan. A letter from her Mom brought her back a few months later when she sat reading all the beautiful things her Mom had to say about JJ and her, what she'd held in her heart and how she thought James and her were going to live on. Now she could smile again when Storm twitched her nose like her grandma, or frown when Shaw wiggled his thumbs like his Grandpa, or Jaythan clung to his best friend like JJ did, the family was living on, but it was still hard

"Hey" Mercy smiled as her family walked into the bedroom "Now it's Christmas" she smiled already dressed sitting thinking "Let's go breakfast" she got up to hug her children, kissing her husband before making their way to the big house

"Just in time" Tina smiled as she opened the door to see Sam, Mercy and the children walking towards them

"We didn't miss breakfast did we?" Mike asked

"No we're just getting there" Sam told him shaking his hand as they watched the girls hug "How's things at 'The House'?"

"Fine as usual" Tina smiled grabbing Sam's arm as Mercy grabbed Mike's, Mike and Tina had been heading up at 'The House' making sure there was enough food, and the staff rota was sorted, some of the old tenants came back every year to help with Christmas as their way of giving back. Mercy had requested that as many of the family that could get back this year try, Sam thought it was to dull out the pain and left her to cope how she felt best.

"Did the paperwork get through alright?" Mercy looked at Mike asking

"We think so, this year should be amazing" Mike smiled, they'd decided to become foster parents after seeing some children walk into 'The House' earlier on in the year and become embroiled in the care system, it spurred them to seek out what they could do to change things. The assessments had taken place, all the checks had been done, the panel meeting had been successful and yesterday, so close to Christmas, they'd been asked to bring in their birth and marriage certificated to send the last of the paperwork off, now they were just waiting.

"It will be fine" Mercy smiled up at him

"Is Ty here yet?" she looked back at Jaythan's sulking face

"Can you not tell?" Mercy looked at Jaythan's face frowning "Sugar" she smiled at them coming through the door. everyone's heart warming at the two 11 year olds meeting again

"Its great to be here" Sugar hugged Mercy and Tina

"I'm glad you were able to get away" Sam shook Rory's hand

"By hook or crook" Rory laughed "Ty wasn't having it" he looked at their sons running off upstairs together

"Breakfast" Sam called after them, stopping them in their tracks to make their way back down "And then shopping, nothing changes" he let Rory's hand go and pushed the door to the dining room open, they'd got cooks in for the holidays, everyone needed the rest, the house was busy again with JJ and his family, Stevie and his family, Quinn, Artie and Blaine were usiing the house as their base, and of course Sam and his family were still in the garden house.

"Hi Guys" Sam smiled at seeing Elliott, Brittany and the girls sitting at the table waiting

"It's near afternoon, some of us are hungry" Elliott walked towards them for hugs

"Pay no mind to him, he walks with his stomach empty" Brittany laughed getting up to greet everyone too

Finally they were all seated and breakfast was served eaten and packed away as they all got in the cars to make it to the mall, they were meeting everyone there. Shopping was shorter than it usually was but the lists were getting more expensive somehow, they finished and made their way to church for the last practice before the mall performances, they'd nominated Mercy without her knowing it, trying to get her out of her funk, before all this happened she'd taken over the lead spot in the choir. "I..I don't know" she looked around for Sam to get her out of it

"I think you can do it babe" he smiled, he more than anyone needed her to get back on track

"I'll try" she smiled at him, with the help of the choir, she sang her Mom's favourite song **'All I Want For Christmas Is You' by Mariah Carey **

It was tearful for everyone most of all Mercy, but she pushed through and Sam's arms were waiting for her at the end of it, by the time it was performed in the mall she'd come to terms with her feelings, everyone joined in singing the finished version. They went home to wrap presents and have evening meal before the house came alive with the children all over the place. The grown ups had their usual catch up checking in on where everyone was today and what they had planned for the coming year

The orphan thing had worn off for Rachel and Kurt they were looking forward again, Rachel had dived back into theatre in a big way, thinking of doing her own production if she could get the interest going, learning it was hard to break into the director role. Jessie was still very sort after in the movie industry so they weren't desperate for her to lift things off, and Harry was going off to private school for three years according to them. Kurt was busy keeping Sabastian interested, his behaviour in the past with his partners had left him scared, trust was something he rarely got to grips with, so there was no verbal commitment, but they were silently exclusive.

Quinn's fifth book was hitting the shelves in February and she was keyed up about it, it was very different to the fantasy love stories she'd written in the past, it was actually very close to the bone for her, she talked about single parenting and motherhood at an early age, it was almost a very dressed up biography she felt exposed and open to ridicule for her life choices. Joe was mega successful in his Counselling Practice his skills had actually helped most of them get through their grief when they needed it, and his second pride and joy Adam looked like he was closely following in his footsteps, he was forever asking questions about his work.

Tina and Mike had sold three houses over the last five years and he was still working as a fitness instructor in private homes, they were surviving, there was no need for daily slog but they'd taken on the managing of 'The House'. They were silently, impatiently, waiting now to find out if they were able to foster, they'd moved into the big house and insisted on paying a monthly fee for the privilege. That didn't mean Sam and Mercy did nothing they were still very much involved but they were 75% partners in the business now and they wanted to make a success of it.

The group slowly dwindled until there was only Mercy Sam, Kitty, JJ, Stevie and Marley sitting in the room "I'm worried about Dad" Sam looked at his brother, it was time for family talk "It's been well over 30 years since he's spent Christmas in Texas, I think he's lonely and maybe lost without James and Jen"

"He told me it just brought home the loss again, he'll be alright" JJ told them

"He said he told..."

"We know what he said" Mercy told him smiling

"Sorry it's a habit" Stevie smiled apologising

""I'm still worried, I think I'm going to call him in the morning, get him to come down" Sam carried on

"He's a bit like me, or is that I'm like him" Stevie laughed "Makes friends for life, I can only imagine it hurts like a bitch when they leave"

"Stevie" Sam hissed at his language

"Chill" Stevie laughed "Nobody die..." he looked at Mercy "Sorry, that was insensitive"

"It was" Sam's eyes widened at him

"You know what?" Stevie got up pulling Marley with him "Call Dad, I'm off to bed before this conversation goes somewhere that ends with you punching my lights out" he hit fists with his brother smiling "Total love Bro" he giggled at Sam laughing at him

"Total love" Sam told him hitting fists with JJ as he followed with Kitty attached

"I don't know if I'm ready for this" Mercy looked at her husband with fret on her face

"You'll … We'll be fine we have everyone around us" he hugged her "And lucky for you, I know just how to relax you" he kissed her neck "Come on, lets go to bed" he led her through the house to their bedroom, putting the music on

"This is different" she smiled at the R&B coming through it

"I'm leading tonight" he giggled "Imagine, there's no bed" he kissed her neck and pulled her to him as the smooth sounds of **'Focus' by H.E.R **filled the air joined later by their noises of love making

**24th December **

"What?" Sam opened his eyes to her sitting on the dresser chair looking at him

"I was thinking when I heard JJ playing his music this morning, just because Mom and Dad aren't here anymore, doesn't mean the house has to be filled with R&B twenty four seven" she giggled "But after a night like that I'm sitting here thinking there shouldn't be anything but R&B running through this place" she laughed "Where the hell did that come from Sam Evans" she walked over to the bed and sat down "You've had me turned up many times but last night I was... "

"Turned out?" he asked laughing "I guess it gets better with age"

"I can still feel your hands on me" she lay next to him and wrapped his arms around her

"I could do that all over again" he kissed her neck and pulled her into him

"Dad" Shaw knocked the door interrupting them "Granddad's here"

"Tell him I'm coming" Sam jumped up and grabbed his sweats

"Is that figurative or literal?" Mercy asked smiling

"Right now it's figurative, but later when we're talking presents it'll be literal" he kissed her lips before dragging his top on and making for the door "Come on get up, shopping, and I'm sharing your breakfast as we speak, it'll be cold" he told her before he was fully out the door

"Dad" he walked towards him "We were worried" he looked at Stevie standing at the sink and Carol and Quinn at the fridge

"Sorry son" his hand stretched out Sam and Stevie watching as Carol walked over to him "I had to speak to your Mom about something" he smiled at Carol stood next to him "And now o guess I need to speak to you guys"

"What's up?" Sam asked smiling

"Carol and I have..."

"You have got to be joking" Sam snapped, his Dad seemed to stand to attention at his voice "You're not joking?" he asked smiling "I am" he laughed "Good for you two" he smiled hugging Carol and watching Stevie and Quinn do the same

"Shit you frightened me then" Daniel laughed, everyone seemed to descend on the kitchen at the same time, the announcement was made and everyone got on with life

After breakfast everyone made their way to the mall to collect all the presents, donations games, this year Elliott, Brittany were taking over from a sick Millie, who'd announced she was getting too old to stand all that time, but they weren't cooking they'd got a service from one of the local restaurants to cook for free, for the day.

They all arrived at the soup kitchen on time, offloaded the gifts, food and games and set about their allocated tasks

"Change of order" Brittany tapped Kitty on the shoulder "Marley and you are doing the song this year" she told her stepping off "Mercy I thought you could do the story" she stepped past her "Artie, Blaine, Tina and Brodie, you're on serving" she stepped past them "Sam" she called back from where she'd just left "Sorry I missed you, Games, you're working with Rachel, Jessie and Quinn" she looked back at her list "Joe" she looked up at him "I've set up a booth over there for ten minute counselling sessions, any more time than that signpost them to Sugar or Rory"

"But we don't know anything about counselling" Rory told her

"You look after a physically challenged child, you counsel yourself every day you get up" Brittany snapped at him "Angel, Ryder, Carols and Daniel, children" she turned back to look at the line of people she'd just spoken to "Oh children's corner over there" she pointed to the corner furthest from the hot food "Thank you" she smiled clapping the board with her spare hand watching everyone move off to do as told

Everything went well, it felt as if they hadn't lost significant people over the past four years, there was other people to do the work, and the numbers were proving there was no letting up on homeless people, everyone got stuck in, after dinner the usual games, brought to a close when Kitty ran over to Mercy "Sis" she gasped watching Mercy roll her eyes she knew there was an ask involved "Please" she begged "It's just that this year we want to do Mom justice and well..." she looked round the room "Be honest Kitty ad I are not it, we'll back you honest we will but please" she gave here puppy eyes "Rescue us and sing lead on this song"

"Which song?" Mercy asked knowing it was going to be something ridiculous that didn't even come on their radar

"One of Mom and Dad's favourites actually" she smiled "Do You Hear What I Hear" she smiled knowing Mercy knew this to be true, we heard a new version and thought it would be a nice tribute, from you" she quickly added

"Brittany will have my ass for this" she looked over at the woman paying no attention

"So you will?" she asked while she stopped the CD player to presented their version of **'Do You Hear What I Hear' by Pentatonix ft Whitney Houston** Mercy actually got some sort of healing out of it, she hugged kitty and Marley along with some of the others backing her, she looked around for Sam and found him smiling, he knew she'd turned a corner too, she smiled at him before going back to her hugs

"Okay Story time" Brittany called trying to keep order and time "That was still you, last I checked" she looked at Mercy

"Oh" Mercy moved off to get across the room to the children's corner "Alright settle down everyone" she grabbed the book off the chair "Ready?" she looked at the expectant faces smiling, remembering being one of those a few years ago as she opened the copy of **'A Visit from St. Nicholas' ****By Clement Clarke Moore **and started reading **_"Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse..."_** the children clapping and cheering as the tale ended

"It's been a good while since I stood up here" Daniel grabbed everyone's attention when his voice came over the mic, Mercy looked at Sam, his eyes fixed on his Dad wondering what was going to happen next, she put the book down and went to her husband "I stood here some 30 years ago mourning my wife, she'd been gone a while, we'd lost our home and then my job and ended up on the street, where we met the Jones, I know you all know who they are" he smiled "And this felt right when I sang it back then but I guess it hurts just a little more today as I sing this tribute to my dear friends who saw beyond my situation and took in a friend, I miss then all" he smiled as a tear fell down his cheek, he quickly wiped it off and nodded for the music to start, watching Blaine press the button as **'Here' by Lukas Graham **blasted out, everyone stood around listening reflecting, remembering, crying.

Shortly after that the clean up happened and eventually everyone went back to the big house, sitting around just getting in the mood for Christmas, Mercy was making sure all the final details for the meal tomorrow were in place. It felt funny doing her Mom's job, and then coming to the realisation that she had to carry this thing that she'd asked for as a 10 year old, how was she to know it was going to end up being something like this, that she'd gain a family bigger and more complex than she'd ever imagined. She smiled as she stood in the kitchen were her Mother lived, it was a beautiful place filled to the brim with her spirit, no amount of traffic could get rid of the essence of her in that room

"You alright Merc?" Sam walked in asking

"I'm fine just spending some time with Mom" she turned to look at him

"JJ's finally sitting in Dad's chair too" he told her

"Result" she smiled up at him "I think I want to open up the house as some sort of retreat for the church"

"Seriously?" the shock on his face apparent

"Well yeah I mean it's always been a place where people gather and they all like the house, I thought we could put some stuff on the land, horses, farm animals or something, all pie in the sky stuff at the minute" she turned away from him

"When you say pie is that half eaten pie or not touched and how high in the sky is it actually sitting way above the clouds?"

"As high as it need to be before we have a conversation with JJ and Kitty"

"We?" he laughed not believing his wife, she had a whole fruited idea in her head, that she hadn't even told him about, and suddenly he was part of her talk down plan

**"I'll go everywhere you go, I'll go, I'll go , everywhere you go.."**

"JJ's not going to move out" he laughed

"He doesn't have to" she leaned up and kissed his lips before dragging him out the kitchen with her "Come on let's cheer this place up" she walked into the room shouting, he knew she was struggling with something, maybe facing tomorrow without Mom, everyone was scattered around the very large sitting room, the children ranging from 3 to 13 were being supervised in the pool by Elle, Tania, Angel and Ryder. "Party games" she suggested nobody questioned it they all knew her mood was strange they got the games out for an evening of fun.

Three hours into games and everyone was weary, Rachel suggested getting the children to bed at 10pm, so that happened, an hour later they were all sitting around sitting room again, silently watching the TV everyone with their thoughts but no one offering anything "I'm off to bed" Sam finally got up telling everyone, it seemed like the break everyone was waiting for because suddenly everyone was ready for bed

**25th December **

"Morning babe" Sam smiled at his wife opening her eyes

"Morning" she stretched looking around the room for the children "Where are they?"

"At the main house JJ called them over to open a present with their cousins"

"So that's their tradition now" she asked wondering whether to be upset about it

"I just saw Ryder come to get them" he frowned "They've still got their PJ's on"

"I better go supervise the dinner" she sat up in bed telling him

"They've got it all in hand, I wanted to talk"

"You've been thinking about my pie idea?"

"Yeah" he frowned "Honestly I don't think opening the house is something Dad would have wanted"

"So that's a no" she looked at him like a spoilt child, sulking for being told no

"Well for the main house yes, the family's growing, I think Dad's planning on moving to the West wing with Carol, we can't say no" he looked at her "Quinn's talking about hers being too big, Artie and Blaine are based here, I don't need to remind you about Tina and Mike, it's not practical to expect everyone to change their lives because we've rented their rooms out"

"So that's a proper no then?" she crossed her hands in front of her chest, he could see she was trying to keep her lid on

"Yeah, it's a no"

"So why didn't you just say that instead of making me..."

"Hey don't be a spoilt brat about it" his stern voice stopped her from talking "Grab your shoes and come with me" he got off the bed and walked towards the door

"Whatever it is it won't compensate for my pie idea" she frowned, he could tell she really wanted to know what he was going to show her, she was sat in the jeep wondering what was going to happen next as they drove off their property and way out down the valley to parts she'd never actually been to "Where's this?" she asked after they'd been driving for about 40 minutes going down hill so fast her ears were popping

They eventually stopped at the side of a lake she didn't even know was there, she'd never been this far down the hill, she had no reason to, there was nothing there "So" he stopped the jeep and got out looking across the lake "What do you think?"

"It's... tranquil" she took in a deep breath of the clean air before stepping out the car "Angelic" she closed her eyes and took it in

"Yeah" Sam smiled "Your Dad brought me out here a few times, said he should have built something here, he just didn't know what"

"It would be awfully expensive" Mercy looked around "Oh but what he could have done with it" she looked across the water

"What are you thinking?"

"Pie in the sky stuff" she giggled

"What if I said... happy Christmas"

"I'd say happy Christmas back" she smiled "This could be our place, take it out of the kitchen" she giggled

"I was thinking more of that retreat you were talking about" he smiled

"This would be too expensive" she looked into his eyes trying to read his mind

"It was expensive"

"What do you mean it was, you mean you spent millions of our money without telling me" she tapped his chest hard

"We never tell each other about presents"

"True" she smiled turning back to look at the view "This is our bedroom window, I don't care how close to home it is, this is our kitchen"

"I drew up some plans, help from Rory of course, it's a big project"

"Sam Evans" her voice treating him like a naughty school child

"There's a lot that could happen with that but, let's get back" he laughed grabbing her hand to get back to the car

"Wait" she dragged her hand away from him "I didn't say thank you" she walked up to him and gave him a peck on the cheek "The rest will follow" her eyes telling him what she meant

"Mercy the minx" he laughed walking off to open the car door for her with a bit of a spring in his step

The car ride home was filled with the sound of the radio, they were planning in their heads what was going to happen with the place "Oh I love this song" they started singing along to **'Choir' by Guy Sebastian & Samantha Jade**

_**Both:** Cause now you're singing with a choir, now you're dancing with a crew, you ain't doing this solo, we all riding with you_  
_No one can put out your fire, nobody filling your shoes, cause now you're singing with a choir, we all riding with you, yeah, yeah_

_**Sam:** Someday, I know, my friend, I'm gonna see you again, and when I do, you better have a part for me, you sing the melody and I'll take the harmony_  
_**Both:** Cause we ain't done making music yet, we got some more sound checks, and this time we gonna have about a million voices_  
_Singing, dancing, party in your mansion_

_**Both:** Cause now you're singing with a choir, now you're dancing with a crew (Dancing with a crew), you ain't doing this solo (Solo), we all riding with you_  
_No one can put out your fire, nobody filling your shoes (hey) cause now you're singing with a choir, we all riding with you_  
_Yeah, yeah_

"We need to take ourselves to the studio" he laughed when they stopped

"This voice is strictly for church" she laughed "And you know that"

"I do" he agreed as the car pulled up at the house "Get dressed, we need to plug this project, we need all hands on deck to get this done within the year"

"You know it took Dad three years to do the big house?"

"And I know you know I've got Dad managing the project?"

"A year" she agreed laughing

They were with the rest of the family, everyone joined in with Mercy and JJ opening their usual present before dinner, more for tradition now than need, JJ was quieter, more controlled, and nowhere near as demanding as he'd been when their parents were alive "Hey" JJ called as Mercy went to walk off, Mercy turned around and smiled at her brother, it wasn't every often they actually spoke but when they did they meant every word "I love you Munchkin"

"I love you right back little bro" she went back to hug him

"I know you miss them, but I'm still here, anything you need"

"I just need you" she told him wiping a tear from her face before she hugged him again

"Dinner's ready" an unfamiliar voice rang through the house grabbing everyone's attention as the realisation of Jennifer not being there hit them yet again

"It's never going to be the same is it?" Carol looked up at Daniel with tears in her eyes

"We'll be alright we have a good foundation" he smiled at her before kissing her cheek

"Looks good on you" Sam commented, making them both laugh

Everyone sat around the tables, Daniel got up with a smile "Sorry to spoil the tradition but Mercy, JJ and I decided last night that Sam should became the man of the manner so... please do the honours" he told his son

Sam looked at Mercy cheering him on, happy but shocked "Happy Christmas" she told him leaning in to kiss him

"This Christmas sees welcome additions to our family" he smiled "As well as Storm, Shaw, Jaythan, Daniel, Carol, Stevie, Quinn, Joe, Adam, Angel, Ryder, Steel, Kitty, Marley, Artie, Blaine, Elliott, Brittany, Elle, Tania, Sue, Michael, Kurt, Rachel, Jessie, Harry, Kurt, Sabastian, Mike, Tina, Rory, Sugar, Tyson, Santana, Byron and Brodie into our family, we also remember fondly James, Jennifer, Bert, Xiu, Yan Lee, Spencer, Clint and Finn who will all be sadly missed. But for those that are here may this always feel the same to you all as it does to us right now, home" he smiled "So will you say the family grace please Brodie?" Sam asked looking around the table set for 39 thinking about the missing 8

"Table discussion" Sam announced tapping the table with his fork "Mercy and I are thinking about another project, a retreat down near the woods, we'll need a lot of help..."

"I'm in" Artie and Quinn shouted at the same time

"We're all in, it's a no brainer" Joe told him "Rory told us" he looked at Rory laughing

"Great" Mercy clapped "I thought this was going to be the worst Christmas, but you've all made it a Christmas to remember" she smiled "Thank you" she looked around the table

"I'm sure the way I remember the story, it's thank you to you Mercy Evans" Daniel smiled at her "From all of us"

_"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"_


End file.
